Right Here
by SpoonyChan
Summary: Sora, a freshman in high school, is forced to move from his home in Destiny Islands to a place near Twilight Town, where he meets Riku, a boy who changes his life for the better...The only trouble is, will their school of such strict ties allow it?
1. A New Beginning

Chapter 1: _A New Beginning_

A deadly silence hung in the air of the small car, excluding the gentle hum of the engine beneath the two of them. Sora regarded the heavy silence with respect, not bothering to break it with his usual chipper attitude, but he had been degraded for the past few months ever since school had been released. He sighed quietly, careful not to make a loud enough sigh for his brother to hear. Any noise would automatically make him assume that it was the time to engage in conversation.

He crossed his arms and leaned the side of his head against the window, scowling at the road they were traveling ahead of them. The tall brunette beside him seemed to regard this action as a complaint, catching his younger brother's stance at the corner of his eye. He sighed audibly himself, saying with a bit of encouragement, "I'm sure everything will be fine, Sora. Worrying about it won't help…"

"Who said I was worrying?" Sora grumbled, trying to touch a nerve. Leon shrugged it off. "I assumed, since you're obviously in a foul mood -"

He broke off to turn a tight corner unexpectedly. He bit his lip nervously, than relaxed once they were on straight road again. "All I'm saying is it's for the greater good. There's nothing you should be complaining about."

"What about my friends?" Sora asked rather quickly, "I don't think I'll be seeing _them _ever again, you deciding to leave so suddenly…"

Leon sighed again, pushing his freehand through his hair. "Once upon a time you came home crying that you _had _no friends, Sora."

"I know, but -" Sora retorted, sitting straight up and uncrossing his arms, "I…I never really realized it until you said we were _leaving_, I mean…I'm not going to know _anyone _here, not even by face. At least I knew the kids back at Destiny Islands by face and name…"

"It'll be hard, Sora, but you'll make new friends…" Leon carried on, as if he wasn't even listening to what his brother had been saying – he was quite busy keeping his eye on the winding road – "…and in no time, you'll know everyone. It's a pretty small school anyways…"

"Yeah, but –" Sora bowed his head in thought, thinking of a way to retaliate, a reason to go back _home_, "but…we have to wear _uniforms_."

Leon laughed slightly, a smile tugging at his lips. "You had to at Destiny Islands, too, Sora."

Sora, clearly defeated, resumed his arm-crossing and glaring-out-the-window game, grumbling a few insults at his brother from under his breath. He viewed the mountainous terrain around him with hidden amazement; having not seen raised ground ever in his life, pretty much. He secretly entertained himself with his marvel until they finally pulled into the parking lot outside their apartment building.

"Not so bad…" Leon mused as he shut the door of his car with a _fwump_, looking up the towering building of carefully lined windows. Sora looked up himself, feeling dizzy by both the height of the structure and the sickening salmon color of it. He flinched when a hand ruffled the brown spikes of his hair. Leon laughed.

"C'mon, we got the second floor – room 207." He told him, fishing a pair of keys out of his pocket and jingling them to confirm their sincerity.

Sora followed his brother up the dull cement stairs and into the cigarette-scented apartment. The place had the definite feel of a prison, having gray walls, barred windows with what Sora thought looked like bullet holes in them, and a dank gray carpet. Carpet…that was the only thing that set this room apart from a jail cell…well, that and its size and two separate rooms.

"Uh, well…" Leon finally spoke after a bit of meandering around in circles in the main room, getting a good look at the atrocity of a life that lay before him as he scratched his head worriedly, "I'd say this place doesn't look too bad as well, but…that would be stupid."

Sora moaned, slumping forward as he dropped his bag on the floor. "You could just admit you got us a sucky apartment, okay?"

"Yeah, I got us a sucky apartment…but that sounds too bland…" Leon slumped against the wall, dropping his bags himself. "What we got us right here is a downright _shitty _apartment."

"Tch…" Sora laughed half-heartedly.

They spent the first night at the apartment in sleeping bags, the moving men too lazy, as Sora had remarked, to bring up their beds. They were requested to bring up the furniture that night, but they obviously disregarded that plea. They had to consult a very sleep-deprived Leon on the phone the next day, which wasn't a pretty sight, or sound, for anyone that day. Sora checked the date on his phone nervously as he crouched against the wall. Only a week left before school started…

"Something wrong, Sora?" Leon asked inquisitively, his head cocked to the side as he looked down at his younger brother. Sora quickly flipped his phone closed and returned the glance, shoving the device back into his pocket.

"Nothing…" Sora sighed, averting his gaze and looking out the window. "Y'think we can get this fixed?" he gestured toward the fragmented glass.

"Eventually…" Leon said blankly, "Once I scrounge up enough money…I mean, I haven't even got a job here yet."

Sora made a noise at the back of his throat in understanding, looking down at the back of his phone expressionlessly.

The week went by quicker than Sora had wanted it to go, the colorless apartment that lacked personality quickly filling with furniture. They ordered a dresser for the two of them to empty their clothes and belongings in, for they didn't stock that many things in the first place. Having two separate dressers was a waste of space.

"We should really consider going to get your uniforms…" Leon told Sora, who was an hour into watching the TV they had recently hooked up, "I still have some leftover cash. Besides, it's the end of the week. Don't want to procrastinate _too _much…"

Groaning, Sora nodded and picked himself off his stomach and elbows, fitting his feet into his shoes and following his brother down the stairs to the car.

They only had enough money to pick up two polos, an oxford, and two pairs of khaki pants. "All we have left are a few quarters…" Leon said rather light-heartedly despite the circumstance he just announced. He sighed, pocketing his wallet and placing his second hand back on the wheel. "Eh, I have a job interview tomorrow anyhow, and you have a date with your teachers."

"I _what_?"

Sora paused his game of ignorance for a moment's time to look at his brother, shocked. Leon merely nodded at the road towards home. "That's right. All you really need to do is pick up your schedule…and something about an assembly, but you can be late and skip that, no biggie."

"Oh…" Sora said, degraded. He hadn't expected the school to sneak up on him so unexpectedly, "And…what ever happened to choosing the classes _for_my schedule?"

"They choose them for you."

"No, I mean…what about my _electives_?"

"You don't have any."

Sora's heart sank. _No electives_? Did that mean…no art? No music? He let out an incredibly exaggerated moan this time, trying to make Leon feel at least a _little _guilty by uttering, "And all this just for bad grades…"

Needless to say, the next morning was near Sora's worst. He hadn't been able to get a decent night's sleep all night, wondering just how on earth he would be able to roam a school's grounds without someone to lead him around that was already familiar with them. He didn't know if he wanted someone to really lead him around anyways, but…his train of thought kept continuing on this similar road, preventing him the sleep that he truly needed. He felt he had just closed his eyes when his bedroom door slowly creak open.

Sora pulled the sheets over his head at an attempt to fool Leon that he was still sleeping. The older brother probably didn't buy it, but he silently made his way to the side of Sora's bed and prodded his shoulder at an attempt to "wake" him.

"_Soraaa…_" he whispered, "Get up, get dressed. We have to be there by eight…"

Sora moaned in response, turning his back to Leon as he did so. Leon scowled, yanking the covers off the his brother with one hand. Sora curled into a ball as the cold gust of wind hit him, pulling his eyes tightly shut.

"Don't make this harder than it already is…" Leon grumbled in anything but a whisper this time, "I actually did you a favor and got you up later than I should have. It's seven thirty. You have fifteen minutes to get ready."

Sora grumbled in response, lifting his body up by his elbows and sitting up. He strung his fingers through his brunette spikes, trying to get them back into some sort of order. He leered back at his brother who smirked satisfactorily back at him. He pointed to the bathroom connected to his bedroom and Sora slid off the bed, scratching the back of his head as he stumbled toward the door, turning the doorknob. He flinched when a large wad of cloth flopped against the back of his scratching hand. Turning around, he noticed his baggy black pants and tight, sleeveless top with a few undergarments mixed in. He looked up to his brother questioningly.

"What about my uniform…?" he asked, cocking his head to the side and squinting his eyes blearily.

"They told me that they would prefer you wear what you usually wear." Leon answered, adjusting his tie professionally, "So I figured that would do the trick."

"Yeah, but…" Sora asked as he picked the pile of clothes off the floor, "…isn't it a little cold to be wearing this?"

"It's…seventy degrees out, Sora…" Leon said with a raised eyebrow, shifting his weight to his left hip in a way to mock him, Sora assumed, "Just because we're a little more up north doesn't mean it's always below freezing."

Sora rolled his eyes and closed the bathroom door behind him, his clothes gathered up in his right arm.

He used up his fifteen minutes and extra seven minutes he gave himself to tidy up for his first school meeting, taking a fifteen minute shower and taking seven minutes to get dressed and gel up his hair. Leon complained openly as he waited at the open door of the apartment, threatening that he was going to leave without him. Hurriedly slipping into his shoes without really zipping them, he clonked over to the door, hopping on one foot after the other to zip them up as he went.

"I don't know how long this interview'll last, so…" Leon spat out hurriedly as he drove down the road in a rush, "…you know, call me when you're done getting your schedule and everything. No, scratch that…don't call me, text me. I'll set it to vibrate or something. No, no, what I mean is…" he sighed, having said this all very quickly and nervously. He ran his hand through his hair and tilted it back, relaxing himself. "I'll call when it's done. Until then, chill around the school. Get to know everyone. You'll be good at that, I promise. You're Sora…"

Sora jumped when the sign for Twilight High School came into view, for the trees had hid it until they were pretty much on top of the school. It seemed to have taken Leon by surprise as well, for he jerkily pulled into the circle, revealing the burnt orange roof of the school and it's small appearance. It looked like a day-care center at best.

"Well…" Leon sighed, "This is your school…"

"Are you kidding me?" Sora laughed, "It's a _hut_!"

"Sora, get out of the car _now._ I'm going to be late."

A little uneasy, Sora slowly clicked the car door open, stepping out onto the pavement. Almost sooner than he had closed the door, Leon was taking off toward his job interview. Sora watched blankly as he drove off, feeling as if he had been cut off from the world.

Here he was, standing in the petite parking lot of a petite little school, the whole campus desolate. He absently reached for the outside of his pocket and pressed down, but felt his heartbeat quicken. Flat. His phone wasn't there.

He dug his hands into each of his pockets. No phone. He left it in the car, or at home…or maybe he dropped it somewhere on accident. He began to panic, looking around for a soul to receive console from, but there was none. They must've all been inside. Thinking fast and breaking all fears of the school itself as best as he could, he ran down along the edge of the school, looking into each door in turn.

Empty. Empty. Empty…all the rooms he had passed were empty and dark, not a soul lurking within. He stopped when he found one brightly lit room of white. A man was there, shuffling some papers at a podium as he sat at a stool. Sora placed his hand on the handle of the door and jerked it down, but was only rewarded with a tightly locked door. The teacher inside the room looked up and slid off his stool, opening the door for Sora.

"Hey, there!" he said with a friendly smile, "Are you new here?"

"Yeah," Sora nodded in a gasp for air as he looked up at the blonde man. His eyes were a grayish blue and he smiled goofier than anyone he had seen without showing his teeth. Sora bowed his head and scratched the back of it, suppressing his mouth from going off about anything stupid, "Yeah, I'm new…I was just wondering—"

"Where everyone is?" the young man finished jovially, leaning against the handle of the door and continuing to smile down at him. Although the man was nicer than any stranger Sora ever came by, he couldn't help but feel uncomfortable under his gaze. "Yes, that and—"

"There in the church over there with the black roof…" he pointed over Sora's head at a building behind him. Sora didn't turn around, getting frustrated that he was being interrupted so often.

"Sir, I'd like to use your phone." He said quicker than the teacher could interrupt.

"Oh…" the blonde scratched his head, embarrassed, "Well, since school hasn't started and all, our phone lines aren't hooked up yet. Real sorry about that…and I don't have a cell phone yet." He shrugged nonchalantly.

Sora would've raised an eyebrow if he wasn't polite, but he muttered his thanks, the teacher told him "No problem," and grasped his hand into a shake. Sora, a little baffled by this outward display of affection, shook the hand back hesitantly.

"Mr. Fayth, leadership teacher and founder of Twilight High," he announced as if Sora had asked him this outwardly, "And you are…?"

"Uh…" Sora stuttered uncertainly, rubbing his hand behind his back as he broke away from the shake, "Sora, sir. Sora Hart."

"Awesome." Mr. Fayth nodded, "Hope to see you in school on Monday." He winked and closed the door behind him. Sora let out a heavy sigh in relief, turning around towards the church he had told him about. He thought it was odd that a school would assemble in a church, but remembered that Leon had mentioned on a whim that it was a pretty religious school. That explained Mr. Fayth's more-than-friendly scariness.

He jogged across the grass and to the black-roofed building, stopping in his tracks when the doors opened in front of him and high school kids a bit taller then him began to spill out of the doors. He backed away and sank against the wall, watching as a colorful array of clothing on several teenagers walked back towards the school, entering classrooms accordingly and waiting outside others. Once they all emptied out into the open, Sora shyly entered the church, shrugging under the dimly lit sanctuary.

"Just hold on a moment, Mr. Kagi…There might have been a problem with the printing…"

Sora tore his eyes away from the ceiling at the calm voice and watched as an older woman with short brown hair run down the hall opposite of this…"Mr. Kagi". Sora would have thought he was a teacher if he wasn't wearing such casual clothes. He wore a black t-shirt and dim gray cargo pants with a loose belt. His hair was long and neat, a brilliant silver. His eyes were hidden under his bangs as he stared forward down the hall…or at least, that's where Sora hoped he was looking.

"Sora Hart…?"

Sora jumped at the sound of his name strewn through the voice. He wasn't sure if the silver-haired boy was the one who said it or not because he wasn't watching his lips. He was watching where his eyes were supposed to be, not answering the voice.

"_Sora Hart?_"

Sora jumped under the gaze of the glowing teal eyes as the silver-haired boy turned his head to him. His heart pumped incredibly fast as soon as the eyes locked with his. He still didn't want to believe that a person so important-looking and dark had known his name. The boy picked up a single sheet of paper on the table in front of him, showing it to Sora.

"This is you, right?" he asked, a hint of annoyance in his voice.

Sora squinted at the name on the top, reading in fine print "Hart, Sora". He nodded mutely, continuing to stare at the paper as if he had been told to do so. He recoiled pathetically when the paper whapped the top of his head and the boy shoved it closer into his face. "Take it." He said, suppressing the impatience in his voice. Sora carefully grasped the paper in both hands, waiting for the gloved hand holding it on the other side to let go. He looked down at it, still rooted to the spot and looked back up to the tall boy. He looked back menacingly through his fiery eyes, as icy-colored as they were. He sighed.

"Does it take an order for you to do _everything_?"

Sora shook his head, feeling the blood pound in his ears. Why was he this choked up? When he usually met people, he was more open. He didn't know what unknown feeling suppressed his lips from moving. He opened his mouth to say something when a girl a littler shorter than himself shoved past him, muttering an, "Oh, sorry…" as she placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. It quickly came off.

"What's taking so long, Riku?" she asked the taller boy. She wore a pink tang top and jeans and bore a head of crimson hair. Riku rolled his eyes and pushed his hand through his hair as he let out a heavy sigh. "Mrs. Fayth being full of it again. She forgot to print my schedule…again…"

"Aww…" the girl cooed as she laughed, "Poor Riku, always getting forgotten…"

"Shut up, Kairi…"

Sora backed away slowly from the two, feeling he had been invading their privacy a bit too much. Once he was out of the church, he broke into a sprint towards the school. He had never felt that awkward around someone in his entire life…and for no real reason, too…

Grasping his chest as he leaned up against the school's wall, he felt dizzy. He still hadn't called Leon…he was probably at the interview already. He didn't care, though. He couldn't get the image of Riku Kagi out of his head. What was wrong with him…?


	2. And the day commences

_Okay, guys. Time for an author's note or…something._

_I must say that this story is based off a real school and real teachers :D Awesome, isn't it? I just made them KH characters that I thought best fit their personality, but…eh, sorry for making Yuna so out of character X.x (AKA Mrs. Fayth). Also, sorry for making this chapter so slow and not full of the action you want :c Boring school things…Anyways, I hope you enjoy_

Chapter 2: _And the day commences…_

Sora sat silently on the sidewalk, holding the paper limply in his hand as the wind threatened to pull it from his grasp. The campus was vacant once again, nothing but the air currents howling around the corners to give Sora company.

It took him a while after his odd encounter with the boy, but he finally mustered enough sense to ask another teacher about using their phone. He spotted a rather beautiful woman earlier in a salmon pink dress and professional red jacket with a clipboard of assorted schedules held to her chest and asked her if he could use her cell phone. She smiled and did so, telling him that it wasn't really hers, but her boyfriend's. After Sora had talked with a rather agitated Leon, the woman introduced herself as Miss. Gainsborough, the sophomore homeroom teacher as well as health and math teacher. Sora smiled at her coy friendliness and felt only slightly saddened that he was a freshman and didn't have such a nice woman as a homeroom teacher.

Riku and Kairi had left together almost as soon as Kairi appeared. It shamed Sora to even see them together, side-by-side, better yet in the same car. Perhaps they were boyfriend and girlfriend…? Sora shook his head, striving to rid of this risky train of thought. Why should he care about another guy's relationship? Riku Kagi intimidated him. It wasn't as if he was in love with him. He stuck his tongue out, disgusted at the thought.

Leon's old-fashioned car rode up to him moments later. Sora jumped back once he opened the door for his phone was jutted into his face by his brother's hand. He took it and asked, "Where'd you find it?" as he climbed in and shut the door.

"Under your seat." Leon gruffly replied, circling the driveway and heading home, "So how'd it go?"

"You first." Sora teased, lacing his fingers behind his head and grinning.

Leon drummed his fingers on the wheel twice then sighed quickly, "Didn't get it."

"Awwwwwh!" Sora let out in aggravated disappointment, letting his arms fall forward, "How're we gonna get the money for my lunch tomorrow?"

"We aren't, apparently…" Leon growled through gritted teeth, "You'll just have to skip it or share with someone nice…"

"Share with someone nice…?" Sora sighed, "I don't know anyone yet, better yet someone 'nice'…"

"For God's sake, Sora, it's a religious school. I'd be scared if there was someone there who _wouldn't _share there lunch with you. You're a nice kid yourself."

"Aw, shucks, you're too kind…" Sora laughed, lacing his fingers behind his head and smirking once again.

"So what's got you so cheered up?" Leon asked in a hallow tone, obviously jealous of his brother's bliss. Sora hadn't realized that he was acting so open and frowned, hoping that any of his experiences at the school didn't show from his body language. He brought his arms down to his sides once again, scratching his side.

"Seemed like a nice school, that's all…" Sora muttered meekly, looking out the window in order to avoid Leon's gaze at all costs, "It's small, but the teachers seem nice, the students…okay…"

"Make any friends yet?" Leon asked, a small spark of hope for his brother hinting in his voice. A smile flickered on Sora's face as he leaned his forehead against the softly vibrating glass window.

"No, not really…"

Leon shrugged. "It's to be expected. You weren't there very long. Anyways, cheers to you tomorrow. Hopefully you'll at least learn someone's name."

"Tomorrow" came almost sooner than Sora wanted it. Although he was looking a little more forward to the day than he had been for the past week, his stomach clenched as well as his heavily burdened back that bore his many school supplies.

Leon drove him since the school had no buses whatsoever. The older sibling wasn't exactly thrilled with this concept, worried about how he would get around going to work when he finally got a job, but gave way anyhow. Once he hollered his "See ya!" out the window, Sora waved feebly and felt the wind sweep past him, the carbon dioxide sifting into his nose. He coughed, looking behind him at the school. As short and stout as the building was, it seemed to tower and stare down at Sora ominously. Gathering up the little courage that he had, trying to calm his constantly squirming insides, Sora, set foot on the side walk that power walked along the side of the school.

Two students were in front of him on the same exact slab of concrete, one about Sora's own height and the other practically twice his height. The shorter one was blonde while the taller one a possessed a spiky head of flaming red. They spoke jovially to each other, the blonde one laughing quite often at the redhead's jokes. Sora cringed once the boy glanced back at him briefly and seemed to whisper something to the one that towered above him. The redhead laughed heartily as his friend disappeared behind a door in the building.

Sora stopped to look inside the classroom, wondering if this was where he himself was supposed to go. The room was half full of students that he didn't remember seeing the day before, and they all wore navy blue uniforms, far different than the snowy white Sora wore. He cocked his head to the side and pulled a spike on his head musingly, turning on his heel to try the next door.

This classroom bore no students, but a lone teacher. It was a woman with sleeked back blonde hair. She was arranging what seemed like a set of schedules huffily. Sora didn't hesitate to turn the handle and stick his head in.

"Excuse me?" he asked rather loudly, but still managing to be polite. The woman jumped and looked up rather irritably, her green eyes scowling slightly as she maintained an unstable smile. Sora dithered a bit, knowing right away that this wasn't the teacher to cross. "Can you tell me where the freshmen meet?"

"That depends," she said sharply, standing up straight to put a hand to her hip, "What's your first period?"

"Umm…" Sora held the door with his foot as he thrust his hand into the pocket of his khaki pants and leisurely pulled out his folded up schedule. The teacher rolled her eyes and sighed impatiently as he carefully unfolded it. He looked up and laughed nervously as he did so.

"Spanish," he announced as he looked down at the wrinkled paper.

"Church," she said, sounding rather strict and bored at the same time, pointing straight toward the same church from yesterday outside her door. Sora looked over his shoulder and nodded his thanks to her, closing the door quietly. He ran across the lawn as he always did to make it to the church doors, cranking the door open and stepping inside.

He was rather baffled by the number of freshmen already inside. As soon as he opened the door, letting in light from the outside world, all heads turned toward him from the pews. He smiled nervously, closing the door behind him and craning his neck for someone he might have recognized from yesterday…Riku maybe? Even Kairi? No sign of either of them…he resignedly sat next to a boy with a long, bright orange ponytail near the back of the room. As he did so, the rather jaunty and relaxed-looking kid nodded his greeting to Sora, Sora smiling in return.

Silence. There was a ringing, burning silence that hung in the church that unnerved Sora to an extent. He let his eyes wander over the heads of the various students, taking note that everyone wore the same outfit, the only difference being the girls who wore their khaki skirts. Sora hated how the light color of his pants clashed with his white top in a rather ugly way. He huffed slightly, breaking the silence only a fraction as he messed with the buckle of his belt. A few people coughed, either to try and loosen the strict, terrifying silence or to give Sora a hint to stop doing just that. He did once a slender woman opened the front door, entering with the rays of the sun spewing in from outside. A few people squinted as she rushed to the front of the room and made it to the podium.

"I'm so sorry everyone for the delay. Mr. Rose couldn't make it today…"

The door finally closed and Mrs. Fayth came into view, the woman Sora only recognized by her dreamy voice and clean-cut coffee brown hair. She pushed a bit of bangs out of her eyes as she scanned the pages of her notebook she had recently placed on the podium.

"Mr. Rose…" a deep voice jokingly whispered to the left of Sora. Sora snapped his neck and watched as the boy next to him erupted in silent fits of laughter.

"Mr. Sinclair…" The movement beside Sora quickly froze as the redheaded boy's expression showed one of impending doom. Mrs. Fayth was still reading her notebook intensely it had seemed, but her slow, calming voice—although incredibly soft and fit for a two-year-old—cut the air like a knife. Sora understood the fear in the boy's gray eyes.

"Your sunglasses?" she held out a hand limply, though it demanded much in a fierce manner. Sora couldn't really understand how such a sweet, charming woman could even define such a wickedness, but that's what he saw as she scrawled a few things out on her paper, "Mr. Sinclair" removing the large shades from the top of his head hesitantly, looking at his bald friend beside him. He shrugged to him, the redhead mouthing the word, "shit" as he sat up disappointedly and surrendered his shades to Mrs. Fayth's talons.

"Thank you," she said, meaning to sound actually thankful as she made direct eye contact with the boy and smiled deeply, but it didn't sound thankful at all. It sounded sarcastic…even if it really didn't. Sora shivered as she curled her fingers around the sunglasses and placed them on top of the podium, grasping the sides of it and announcing to the class openly, "Instead of learning Spanish today, since no one else is a certified Spanish teacher, you all are going to get to know everybody. I would like all of you to come up here on the stage behind me and form two lines facing each other."

It must've been the strict ties about the school that made every student in the church stand up at once, not even looking about for a facial answer from a fellow classmate. Sora scrambled onto the petite stage, standing in front of the now infamous figure in his mind—Mr. Sinclair. He popped a few bubbles in his chewing gum and grinned at Sora, giving him a quick nod once again. Sora ignored it this time and looked over to the other infamous figure in his mind, Mrs. Fayth, for directions. To his dismay, she had taken her spot at the end of the line opposite of his, at the very end, however.

"Okay, what I want you all to do is introduce yourself to the person in front of you _when I say so_," she added rather sharply, for a few people began to engage in conversation, "And say as many things about yourself as you can. Give each person enough time to say everything they need to say. When I say 'switch', everyone in _this line_—" she indicated the line she stood in with a sweep of that arm, "—will move down a person. Ready? Go."

"Name's Reno, yo." The spry troublemaker in front of Sora began, extending the hand that wasn't shoved into his pocket. Sora took it gratefully, nodding with a smile. "Hey."

"Well, I was sent here on account of bad grades…and I mean _serious _bad grades, yo…" he shook his head, laughing, "I got held back once in fourth grade. Tch, wasn't really good at schoolwork anyhow…"

He paused and watched Sora expectantly, nodding his head as if to nudge Sora into speaking. "Oh! I'm Sora. I'm here for pretty much the same reason, except I also had some issues at home and…yeah…"

"Aaah, I see…" Reno bobbed his head, understandably, "I've been there, I've been there…"

"_Switch_!"

The line in front of him shifted quickly, and Sora ran into several of the same situations--"Better here than there…", "Bad grades…" "My parents think it'll straighten me out…"—it was almost as if Sora and his new classmates had all been sent to some sort of prison camp, exchanging their criminal stories. A few interesting characters he had run into were Hayner, Pence, and Olette. The three of them agitated Sora a bit, talking to each other instead of him when it was their turn to introduce themselves to him. Sora rolled his eyes once they switched again, starting when his next subject jumped in front of him and announced rather intensely, "Hello!"

Sora centered his attention on the frail girl in front of him. She smiled rather sweetly and gave Sora the image of pale moonlight, having a milky blonde head of hair and pale indigo eyes and a rather fair complexion.

"My name is Naminé," she told him rather proudly, splaying her fingers to her heart, "I love to draw and paint, and I'm here because my parents thought this was a nice school, so...here I am."

Sora scratched his head, being eerily reminded of the girl, Kairi. "Sora," he told her rather uncomfortably, "and I'm here on account of…bad grades…"

"Ah, a lot of people are apparently…"

"_Switch_!"

"See you later, Sora!" Naminé told him cheerily before Reno's bald accomplice, who Sora had a very awkward one-worded conversation with, shoved her quite politely out of the way. All he learned about the tall, brooding freshman was his name: Rude Urnar. Sora wondered quietly to himself what his parents were thinking as the line moved along once again and he was facing Mrs. Fayth.

"Sora Hart!" she announced, holding out a hand. Sora took it and felt how cold her hands were, the chill traveling down his spine. "Your brother told me about you. He said you didn't want to come here."

Sora flinched. "I-I just didn't want to be taken from my friends is all…"

"Ah," she nodded, acting as if she understood. Sora noticed being this close to her that one of her eyes was green, the other blue. He found it quite interesting, so kept steady eye contact with her.

"Well, I hope that you enjoy your year here at Twilight," she simply said, then called over the heads of the students. "Alright, it's about time to switch classes. The sophomores are waiting outside, so…hope you all have a great day!"

The students scrambled to get their packs as she spoke, heading towards the back door of the church. Sora shouldered his own fifty-pound backpack, noticing the sophomores peering inside from the window. When he stepped into the sunlight, he squinted and brought a hand to his eyes

"Y'think Mr. Rose got fired?" chirped a familiar voice, asking someone the question nearby. The sun glared down at Sora still, so he wasn't sure if he was the one being asked.

"If he did, this school would be a helluva lot better…" responded a dark voice that made Sora's throat clench. A shadow was cast over him as Riku Kagi crossed between him and the sun. Sora looked up at him as if expecting something. Riku paused and looked down at him, puzzled. Sora's eyes narrowed when he put the tips of his forefinger and middle finger to his forehead. He pushed Sora's head back with a quick nudge of those fingers and laughed, "Dork…"

Sora caught himself before falling backwards, watching as the sophomores swarmed past him. A giggling Kairi and smirking Riku disintegrated into the crowd, leaving Sora in the dust. When the door snapped shut behind them all, he sighed and looked up to the sky, hearing the caw of a crow somewhere…the sign of silence and solitude.

"OH, crap!" he exclaimed, pulling out his schedule from his pocket and unraveling it faster than he could read his second period—Health.

The room was easily found, all his classes other than Spanish being down the same length of wall. He pushed pulled open the door to Miss. Gainesborough's Health class. Everyone had already been settled in a particular seat. He scanned the room briefly for Riku, remembering only after her sat down that he disappeared into the church only moments ago.

"Hello, everyone!" everyone looked up at the beautiful brunette, who clapped her hands together as if praying, "Welcome to Health. I'm Miss Gainesborough, as several of you already know…" she gave Sora a kind smile before continuing, "And since this is your first day of the year, I'll start of with some introductory games…"

The whole of the room moaned as their teacher hitched up a pair of large, plush dice. She glanced around the room, confused. "What?"

"We're going to be doing that all _day_, Mom." The one known as Olette complained. Sora blinked, wondering whether or not saying "Mom" was a mistake, when he noticed the incredible similarities between her and Miss. Gainesborough. "We already spent all Spanish class with Mrs. Fayth introducing ourselves."

"Ahhh, I see…" the woman looked down at her pair of dice, contemplating what she should do. "Well, I didn't plan any work for today…besides these are fun!" she rolled one die across Sora's table, also occupied by Olette, Pence, and Hayner..

"We already know eachother, G…" Hayner grumbled, stretching, "Practically all of us came here for middle school…"

"Not Sora!" the teacher corrected as she gave his spikes a kind pat, handing Reno and Rude's table their own die. Sora grinned nervously under the stares the three gave him, hunching his shoulders guiltily.

"Okay, all you have to do is take turns rolling the die…" Miss. Gainesborough explained as she headed back to the front of the classroom, clapping her hands together once again, "Whatever question lays face up, you answer aloud to your cohorts at your table—"

"Where'd you get these, Miss. G?" Pence, he rather plump one of the three, asked as he turned the pink die over in his hands.

"WallGreens. Aren't they adorable?" she giggled in response, "Okay, you may begin."

"Alrighty…" Pence announced, tossing the die in the air. It hit him in the head before it fell onto the table, which caused Olette to erupt into a short fit of laughter while Hayner merely quirked an eyebrow. Sora smiled.

"'What was the name of your first pet…?' Huh, like anyone needs to know _that_." He pondered for a moment's time, caressing his chin, "Lessee, I think it was Poncho, my pet wiener dog."

Oletter rolled the die next, which revealed to them all that her favorite food was sea-salt ice cream. Sora stuck a tongue out of the thought of salty ice cream…and jumped once Hayner tossed the die into his hands after he announcing that he didn't have a favorite color.

Sora threw the die rather haphazardly, it landing on the floor near the legs of Olette's chair. "Woops!" she laughed, bending over to pick it up and set it on the table, "It says…'What's the name of your best friend?'"

"_Pence_!" Hayner yelled loudly as he slammed the two front legs of his chair back to the ground and slapped hands with the portly boy across from him.

"_Ahem_…" Olette coughed impatiently, "The question was for _Sora, _youguys…"

Sora put a fist to his chin, looking down in thought. He never really _had _a best friend, but for whatever reason, he blurted out, "Riku."

Sora flinched at both his own response and the sound of Hayner's front chair legs colliding with the floor once again. "Riku _Kagi_?" he asked, his mouth agape. Sora's pupils narrowed, but he nodded solemnly. "_Seriously_?"

"N…not really…" Sora muttered, blushing, "I mean…yeah, never mind, I don't have a best friend."

"That sure sucks…" Pence mused before Miss Gainesborough leaned over to him to say, "Pence, don't use that word!"

Physical Science, only a few doors down from Health, was Sora's next class. He dreaded that dearly. He learned from his newfound buddies in Health that the teacher, Mr. Cloner, taught in a monotonous manner.

Sora turned the handle, but found that he couldn't. The door was locked. He sighed and leaned against the wall, scanning the line of sophomores that drained out of the church. He found Riku and Kairi to be the ones lagging behind in the stream, the perfect picture of contrast when it came to height…and Sora could literally hear his heart as they came down the sidewalk, closer and closer…until Riku stood, literally in front of him. He would've melted into the ground if the laws of physics weren't inconveniently in existence.

"Sora, right?" Riku asked as he towered over him, somewhat menacing yet somehow friendly at the same time. Sora nodded, managing a struggled, "Y-yeah…"

"Heh, so you aren't completely mute," the taller boy joked, pushing a roll of paper into Sora's hands, "Yuna told me to give this to you. She forgot to give it to you firsthand, the ditz…"

"Yuna…?" Sora asked, holding the paper up in front of his face.

"Mrs. Fayth…"

"Oh…" he stuffed the paper into his already occupied pocket as the door to the science room opened, greeting them all with a chilling gust of wind.


	3. The Day Continues

OKAY, so…I'm thinking of writing a SoRiku fan fiction, and I'm thinking along these lines…

_Another author's note! Yey!_

_Okay, to the few people who reviewed: T.H.A.N.K.Y.O.U. Honestly, guys, I came home after a considerably crappy day to see that five people had reviewed my story and I was __**thrilled**__. There's nothing that makes a writer happier than good, wholesome comments on a story they put their heart into. I really appreciate it :'_

_Anyhow, sorry for the previous chapter's incredibly crazy typos. I'll try to fix them sometime this week for…they annoy me to no end. I'm trying to get at least…__**somewhere **__with this chapter, but honestly if you want to keep Sora and Riku in character and not already friends, it takes them a while to stick…_

_And sorry for taking this long…I'm a procrastinator. A really BAD procrastinator. Plus, this chapter ends way too suddenly. GOMEN ;-;_

Chapter 3: _The Day Continues_

If Sora hadn't known better, he would've thought the frail and nervous teacher that stood before them in the chilling classroom was a substitute teacher that just happened to have the same name as their actual teacher. He moved about the room as if it wasn't his, jumping when he bumped into the corners of counters and laughing nervously. He was the fatter form of emaciated, having bloated joints and thin limbs. His chin was grotesquely defined behind his curtain of greasy blonde hair, and Sora was instantly caught unawares by his bulging emerald eyes that seemed as if they would fall out of his skull at any moment's time.

"Good evening, class…I mean, morning, morning…Good, morning!" he chuckled anxiously, "Sorry, I don't have a lesson plan for today, so I guess, uh…I'll just pass these out…"

The room remained silent as sheets of paper were passed down the rows. Sora grasped the stack handed backwards by the person in front of him. He handed one piece to Hayner, who he shared a table with, then passed it back to the two behind him.

"Aaaauuugh, another one of those 'introduction' things…" the teen behind him moaned. Sora spun around briefly to have a look at the fellow student and recognized him as the redhead he briefly saw that morning speaking with the smaller blonde. Even when sitting down, he seemed to tower above everyone dominantly. He held his paper in front of his face distastefully, and then glanced at Sora questioningly before the brunette switched his eyes over to Riku and Kairi, who sat at the adjoining lab table.

For the first time, Sora saw the true nature of their conversations. He had always imagined Kairi giggling about something and telling Riku about it, then Riku bursting into laughter himself and adding on, but that wasn't it at all. She was talking to him incessantly without end, whispering and giggling while Riku listened gravely without saying a word…or was he even _listening_? His glance slowly moved from space to meet with Sora's eyes. Sora flinched and turned around hastily, looking down to his sheet.

"Hey," Hayner began, punching Sora on the shoulder in a friendly way, "You're new here, aren't you?"

Sora rubbed his shoulder, nodding. "Yeah."

"Sign." Hayner simply said as he handed Sora his pen he was previously chewing the tip of. Sora took it and searched the paper he handed him for "this is the first time this person has attended the school" and signed with merely his first name.

"Hey, thanks." The blonde casually stated, turning around to greet the tall redhead behind him and ask him about signing the paper as well. Sora looked down at his own paper, reading off the many requirements that had to be signed by his peers. Apparently someone could only sign a paper once. He scouted around the room, meeting people he didn't meet in his other classes. He discovered after the third person asked him what grade he was in that he was in a sophomore science class. His hand lurched as he signed his name on their paper as he realized this. He _sucked _at science…

A few impressionable people he met were Cloud, Axel, Garnet and Rai. Cloud, although quiet, seemed like an altogether nice guy, while Axel, who happened to be the boisterous redhead from earlier that day, was the complete opposite – loud and somewhat of a jerk. Garnet was sweet, noble, and quite calm, and Rai was open and seemed to use "y'know" at the end of every sentence just as Reno used his word "yo".

After thirty long minutes of forcing his small form through the mass of people and collecting signatures, Sora found that he only had two blanks left: "this person drives a car" and "this person owns more than two pets". He of course avoided Riku and Kairi at all costs until then, noticing that he had asked everyone in the room except them to sign his sheet. He sheepishly crept over to their lab table in the corner, where Riku sat lazily with his forehead on his fist, appearing to be eyeing his sheet scrupulously as Kairi stood behind a chair, talking to him animatedly as she held the back of it firmly. She silenced herself and looked at the skittish Sora questioningly as he came into her peripheral vision.

"Yes…?" she asked, smiling as if she were speaking to a seven-year-old.

"Uhm…" Sora stared down at his paper for support, not receiving much. "Do you have more than two pets?"

"Oh! Yes, I do…" Kairi said matter-of-factly, taking the paper and placing it on the table, the table in which the very Riku sat. From a closer view, Sora could tell that he wasn't looking at his paper at all – he was _sleeping_. The brunette laughed through his nose and covered his mouth immediately afterwards, thinking he would wake the dozing beast. "Beast" wasn't exactly the fitting word…"Prince" was more like it, but as Hayner had reacted to his mere name made him seem like some monster…

"There! All –" Kairi began after lifting her pen from the paper, but was cut off by Riku's snatching hand. He slid the paper over to himself and scanned its contents swiftly, scrawling his name out next to "this person drives a car". He pushed the paper back to Sora without a word and Sora took it after a moment's silence, marveling the curvy, slanted signature with a sort of awe.

"You drive, Riku?" Kairi asked, sounding slightly interested. Riku shrugged, "A bit. My roomies are still paranoid about me driving by myself still, so I'm only limited to practice."

Sora tilted his head slightly at the older boy as he buried his head into his arms. "Roomies…?" he asked, perplexed at why roommates would be concerned about his driving skills. Riku looked up, leering, Sora assumed, out of fatigue.

"Well…parents," Riku informed the smaller, avoiding his cobalt eyes with all the power he could summon, "Calling them 'roomies' is a lot more fitting since, well…first off, they don't act like actual parents – more like _Nazis_. Second off, I'm adopted."

"Oh!" Sora gasped, "I'm…I'm sorry."

Riku uttered a small, sarcastic laugh, smirking. "Heh, you act as if they're dead or something. Don't worry; they won't be dying any time soon. Satan hates competition, you know…"

Sora laughed a little too loud at the boy's witty comment, clamping his hands to his mouth. Riku smirked, "Mm, you liked that, huh? There's a lot more where that came from…"

Before Sora could even process what Riku really meant by that comment, Mr. Cloner interrupted the constant murmur of students with his oddly high drawl of a voice by saying, "Okay, class, we only have a few minutes left so…please return to your seats…"

No one really listened to him the first time, so Sora took his opportunity to say to Riku, "Well…nice talking to you…"

"Any time, loser…" Riku sighed with somewhat of a smirk, hiding his face once again in his arms.

The next few minutes turned out to be only a few seconds, for Mr. Cloner glanced at the clock hanging on the wall and announced, "Okay, you can go now, I guess…". It wasn't even enough time for Sora to smile at Riku's somehow amusing words, even if they were meant to hurt him in one way or another. He unhooked his bag from the back of his chair and waited for Riku to pass him before following him back to Miss. Gainsborough's classroom for math.

They had been released only a minute early, so they were greeted with a wave of freshmen and a handful of sophomores as they approached the door to the classroom. Sora spotted Reno, Rude, Naminé, and several other freshmen he had met before all of them head off to the science room. Looking over his shoulder, Sora began to ponder – if he had a sophomore science class, did he have a sophomore _math _class as well…? He couldn't bear the thought…

A rather tall boy with a distinctive dirty blond pompadour shoved his way through the mass of sophomores Sora stood behind and held the door open for them all. They filed into the classroom, saying their thanks to "Seifer", who nodded back in acknowledgement.

Sora shifted his eyes around the room as he sat down, setting his bag on the floor. Miss Gainsborough wasn't anywhere to be seen, but her students were few. There was Seifer, the beautiful Garnet, Hayner, Riku, of course, and two other kids that Sora had yet to learn the names of. They were both rather short – almost as short as him – and both had unique hairstyles. One of them had tanned skin that contrasted strangely with his flaming orange hair that stuck up at a perfect ninety-degree angle. The other was of fairer skin and bore a head of blondish brown hair that was a mixture of a Mohawk and a mullet. He sat in his seat backwards, looking around wildly with his legs spread apart and his arms resting on the back of his chair. Sora knew that this boy _had _to be some sort of trouble to the administration…

He came out of his trance once he heard a backpack fall to the ground next to him and chair legs scraping the floor. Glancing to his right, he found that the vacant seat next to him had been filled. He clutched his knees once he spotted the shining wintry hair of Riku Kagi and goggled up to him as if in pure fright (although it was pretty much that). The taller boy flicked his eyes towards the brunette and Sora flinched, looking straight ahead once again.

There was a moment's silence before it hit Sora like a ton of bricks…he was sitting alone at a table that sits four people…with Riku. No one else was with them. _No one._ _Kairi_ wasn't even in the same _room_. Sora tried his hardest to hide his incredible ecstasy.

"Oh, for goodness sake, Olette, go back to class!" Miss Gainsborough's voice carried from the other room, sounding quite strict but still polite. She emerged from the room next door, closing the door behind her and smiling at her petite math class.

"I can see not many people got this course…" she began, sounding disappointed as she walked her way to the front of the classroom, folding her hands behind her back, "Such a pity…Algebra is a great lesson…"

Sora choked on his own breath and squeaked, "_Algebra_?" only loud enough for Riku to hear him. As Miss. Gainsborough continued to speak, Riku ducked his head close to Sora's and spoke in a hiss, "Didn't you take that math test at the end of the year last year at your old school?"

Sora stared into Riku's eyes worriedly, seeing the urgency in his own turquoise eyes. He looked up, trying to stretch his memory to the end of last year. He definitely took a math test that year, but

"I-I…I think I cheated on that test off the girl in front of me…" Sora mumbled, gagging on his words. Riku's pupils narrowed and he snapped in the lowest tone he could, "You idiot! That was a placement test, not--!"

Both their heads snapped up as a hand slammed down on their table. Miss Gainsborough was looking down at them sternly, asking, "Is there something you would like to share with the class, Mr. Kagi?"

Riku straightened himself up with a final glance at Sora. The brunette was hoping that he would ask if he could switch classes, but oddly enough he replied in a soft voice, "No."

"That's 'no, _ma'am_" or 'no, _Miss. Gainsborough_'."

Riku sighed in an annoyed manner, growling behind his teeth, "_No, ma'am_."

"Good. Try a better tone next time." She chirped as she did a little twirl to the other side of the room and laced her fingers together across her chest.

Needless to say, Sora spent the rest of the period taking notes on review he never even learned before. He was in what one would call a math class for slower students, but he just so happened to sit behind one of the smarter ones.

When they were through with their lengthy notes, Sora's many hushed whines of, "I don't get this" and "I never learned this", and Riku's many sighs and eye-rolling maneuvers, Miss Gainsborough slapped her chalk down, causing the majority of the class to jerk their heads up.

"Homework tonight," she began with a plastic smile, "is on page eight, problems two through twenty four even. However, I would prefer you do the odd problems in class so you can check your answers at the back of the book and make sure you've got the hang of this review…after all, homework _is_ for the home."

She retreated behind her desk and picked up a glass of water, the ice clinking in it resonantly as she drank it. The class took the motion as a signal to begin working, causing a few hushed murmurs to break out as books flipped open and pencils began scratching. One of the most helpless murmurs was of Sora's, who couldn't help but not have a clue about pre-algebra, the supposed math class he took the previous year (he actually took a regular math class in his eighth grade year). He hissed to Riku next to him, fit to burst into tears out of mere stress, uttering a pathetic, "_Help me…_"

The older boy's pencil discontinued it's writing and his head turned to study the brunette fiercely. At Sora's puppy-like expression, Riku sighed and pulled a hand through his hair. In an undertone, he managed to say, "This would've been a lot easier if you would have just _flunked _your placement test like you should have…"

"Can't they just switch me out of this class?" Sora asked him, sounding desperate at this moment. Riku shook his head, "They _can_, but the thing is…" he paused, looking at the smaller boy head on and smirking, "…do you really _want_ to leave this class?"

Sora gulped, his pupils narrowed. Just an expression and a few simple words and Sora knew that Riku Kagi was not an average person at all when it came to wit and intelligence. Just that one look told Sora that the enigma known Riku Kagi knew more about him than even Sora knew himself…and in such little time.

Before Sora could open his mouth fully to produce an answer, Miss Gainsborough's voice carried from behind her computer screen as she told the class simply that it was time for lunch and everyone was bounding from their seats and heading straight out the door. Sora didn't know where he would be having lunch, so he naturally hesitated and lagged behind, gathering his things into his pack. He looked up to see if Riku was waiting for him, but felt his heart sink. He had vanished into thin air, off to go sit with Kairi at lunch, most likely.

He heaved his book bag over one shoulder, said his goodbye to Miss Gainsborough, and pushed open the door to the outside world. A cloud was covering the sun, luckily, so his sensitive eyes didn't suffer from the blazing rays when he exited. He stared straight ahead and found immediately a pavilion under a matching amber roof filled with orange plastic picnic tables and wooden tables alike. More distinctive than anything in the crowd of heads, Sora found Riku's head of tin foil hair across from Kairi's shoulder-length rose hair.

Knowing that Riku must've been tired of his antics, he strayed a little ways away from their table, heading towards where Naminé and her supposed new friends sat, Hayner, Pence, Olette, and Axel. He stopped for a moment in his tracks and craned his neck to see if there was a free spot, when—

"Sora, sit!" a cheerful, girlish voice demanded in a somehow polite and welcoming manner.

Sora looked down to find that the beckoning voice came from none other than Kairi, to his astonishment. She indicated the seat next to her, and rather close to her at that. Sora unsurely stepped forward, and then took the rest of the steps towards the table once he was sure the ground beneath his feet was real and it all wasn't a dream. He easily sat next to Kairi, placing his backpack between them.

"Of course, you know Riku, right?" Kairi smiled, gesturing a hand towards Riku as if he were a prize in a game show. Sora nodded quietly. "And you know I'm Kairi!" she laughed in a fake way, taking a bite out of a chip she had taken out of her lunch box. Sora eyed it hungrily, quickly drawing his eyes away and sighing, bored.

"Are you…anorexic or something?" Riku asked, taking his eyes away from the book he was reading that was laid flat out on the table's surface. Sora shook his head, "Uh-uh."

"Why aren't you _eating, _then?" he asked rather harshly, obviously impatient with how unusually slow this classmate was. Sora looked down pensively and told him, "I didn't have the money…"

"Why didn't you ask your mom or dad for some money?" Kairi asked in her usual high tone of voice. Sora almost glared at her, as if scolding the rose-haired girl for interrupting an important conversation. "I don't live with my parents anymore – I live with my brother, and he didn't have the money either."

"Oooh…" Kairi aired, somehow fascinated in Sora's remark as if it were the opening of a great story, "Why don't you live with your par--?"

"Kairi." Riku simply stated, placing a hand firmly down on the pages of his book. She glanced up at him quizzically, cocking her head. He spoke with his leer, and she bit her lip. "Sorry…" she muttered to Sora.

"'S okay." Sora shrugged, "I take my separation from my parents as lightly as Riku does."

Riku grunted.

Sora placed a hand on the table and leaned in closer to Riku, trying to peer an obvious glance at what book the silver-haired boy was so absorbed in. He slapped a hand over the text that Sora was about to read before the brunette looked up to him and asked in a teasing manner, "Are _you _anorexic, Riku?"

"_No_." he replied, as if the answer was obvious, "I ate an Uncrustable PB and J thing while going to Algebra."

"Oh…" the curious brunette replied, resting his chin on his arms as he still looked up at the reading silverhead expectantly. After a moment's time, teal eyes met blue once again. "_What_?" he asked rather irately.

"Do you have any food that I can borrow?"

Kairi giggled as Riku sighed angrily, pulling up his lunch box one-handedly and pulling out a bag of Cheetos, flinging them at Sora's face.

"Ow!" Sora exclaimed, holding his nose. Kairi giggled even more, holding her own hand to her mouth.

"Pff, it didn't hurt _that _bad." Riku said teasingly, "A bag of _Cheetos_?"

Sora opened the bag with a playful glare in his eye, eating at the orange-colored sticks as Kairi's giggling turned into mere chortles in her throat.

"Hey, Kairi." a voice from in front of Sora greeted as a young-looking blond boy took a seat next to Riku.

"Hey, Roxas!" Kairi chirped kindly, picking another chip from her bag in a graceful manner. Sora blinked and peered at the boy up and down, recognizing him from that morning…he was the one speaking to Axel, and the one who wore a different uniform than his own.

"Who's this?" he asked, nodding his head towards Sora as if he wasn't able to answer the question.

"Oh! Sora, this is Roxas, Riku's brother…" Kairi introduced with a grin, and Riku growled.

"He is _not _my brother."

"Yeah, I am!" Roxas cried defensively, "Just not by blood, that's all…_Don't listen to anything he says, Sora. He's crazy_."

Sora blinked as Riku told him, "Shut up…" lazily. Roxas laughed as he ate a fry from his tray. "So…this your first year at Twilight?"

"Oh…yeah." Sora replied, not really sure at first if he was really talking to him.

"Yeah, well…I still go to Dawn, so –" he shrugged indifferently.

"Dawn…?" Sora asked, the simple question, it immediately being followed by an impatient murmur of Riku's.

"You are the freshest freshman there can be…" he said rather loudly, looking directly into Sora's eyes, "Oh, my _God_."

"Dawn is the elementary and middle school connected to Twilight." Kairi answered politely, "You haven't seen any of the little _little _kids walking around campus?"

"No…I haven't." Sora replied, thinking back to when he first came to school that morning.

"Well, they're here." Kairi continued, "In the same building, too…"

"Whoa…" Sora whispered airily, "That's so _weird_…"


	4. Freshman Crackers

Chapter 4: Freshman Crackers

_Commentary! I'm quite proud of this chapter because I actually based this almost completely on actual things that happened, especially the jokes Riku said, the "marijuana muffin", and Riku's remark at Sora…oh, yes, and the real Larxene actually did say and do all those things…and Real Mr Fayth, same thing. Enjoy. KEEP THE REVIEWS COMING. They make me happy._

_Chapter 4: __Freshman Crackers_

"Take the 'i' out of "igloo" and the "f" out of 'way'."

Sora looked up to Riku questioningly, missing what the boy said completely. They had both finished their "lunch" and were sitting against the wall of the school with Kairi sitting rather quietly on the other side of Riku speaking with Roxas. Sora tilted his head slightly and asked, "What?"

"Take the '_I_' out of '_IGLOO_'…" he said at a slower pace, "…and the '_F_' out of '_WAAAAAY_'…"

"Uhm…" Sora looked up to the bottom of the overhang they were sitting under, counting the spiders as he tried to imagine the words in his mind. "Igloo" without the "i" was definitely "gloo", and "way"…

"Which 'way'?" Sora asked, "Like, 'I _weigh_ a ton', or 'that's _way_ too much'?"

"Just…" Riku shook his head, seeming frustrated, "…either one."

Sora chose the word "weigh" in his mind and went over the letters several times. He somehow confused the "g" in the word with "f" and asked, "Weeeiiiih…?"

"'There's no f in way'!" Riku revealed, exploding with the incredible impatience he had been holding, "_God_, you're so slow!"

Just then, the door to the right of Sora opened and the blond female teacher from that morning emerged, carrying her lesson plan in a folder.

"Miss Nymph!" Riku exclaimed, straightening up and asking her, "If quizzes are quizzical, then what are tests?"

"Testicle," the woman simply replied, at first giving herself the impression that she was smart and the four students sitting below her were not, when she clamped her hand to her mouth, embarrassed. Riku and Sora howled with laughter.

"Eheh…good one, Riku." She laughed, obviously not impressed. She didn't seem to like being tricked when it came to her own subject, "And tell whoever has me fifth period can drop their stuff off in here now…"

"That would be _you_…" Riku told Sora, pushing him in the shoulder, "and all the rest of the fresh meat."

Sora looked back at Riku as he stumbled onto his feet, hoisting up his bag as he stepped unsurely into Miss Nymph's room. It was just as it was that morning: almost completely white except for a few "inspirational" posters decorated on the walls.

"You were that kid who came to me this morning, right?" Miss Nymph asked as she crossed over to her desk in the far corner of the room and opened a certain folder among the ones already spread out on the desk. Sora nodded, but noticed that she was busy stooping over and reading the words from this certain folder. "Yeah," he quickly rebounded.

"Name?" she asked simply, brandishing a sharpened fingernail at her folder. The boy blinked, hesitating for a moment's time in order to process what he was ordered, then felt stupid that he even paused to do so. "Sora Hart."

"Hart…Hart…Aha! Hart!" she pinned her nail at his name on her list of freshmen and pointed with her opposite one to the left side of the room in the middle of a vertical row. "You're in the seat closest to the wall, right next to Naminé Snow."

Sora shrugged in a small gesture as he spun around to place his bag down on his chair. He scanned the bulletin board adorned with posters explaining metaphors and hyperboles before pushing the straps off his shoulders and heading back outside. Rude held the door open for the brunette silently as Reno came in as quite the opposite, letting his mouth run at incredible speeds, not forgetting his own personal "yo" flare.

"Larxene's awesome," Riku told Sora as the brunette quietly exited the room, "Especially when she starts to threaten you with screwdrivers."

Sora gulped. "_Screwdrivers_?"

"Oh, he's just playing…" Kairi laughed, "Aren't you, Riku?" She shoved him playfully in the shoulder and he rubbed it irritably. "No…I'm not…" he mumbled angrily at her.

The rest of the day was a drag for Sora, mostly because neither Riku nor Kairi appeared in any of his classes other classes. He briefly waved at them when he passed by them while passing them in the hall, but only got returning gestures from Kairi…and sometimes Roxas. Riku would merely leer before passing as if they never even met.

In English, it just so happened Miss Nymph _did _threaten them with screwdrivers. And hammers. Reno and Rude would erupt with random fits of laughter from jokes they would produce and the vicious teacher would roughly open up the drawer in her desk and brandish a screwdriver and a hammer, shouting that she was going to gouge their eyes out and beat their heads in with her hammer. They kept quiet the remainder of the hour.

The history teacher was a blessing to Sora, since history was yet another subject he wasn't the best at. Their teacher was Mr. Snipe, and his way of dress surprised Sora greatly for it was exotic and "inappropriate for a learning environment". He had a head of black hair with a white streak through the top of it, and it all came together in a long ponytail. He also wore an eye patch over his right eye and bore a thick scar over his left cheek. Sora assumed it was from a nasty kitchen accident, but regardless, Mr. Snipe was his favorite teacher he met that day next to Miss. Gainsborough.

Leadership, the last period of the day, was of course taught by none other than Mr. Fayth himself. Sora learned to warm up to his incredibly open behavior and his somewhat raw sense of humor. He explained the them how everything that was written on the board had to be taken down on notes, for every Friday they would have a quiz dubbed the "Terrible Ten" – ten questions that could easily be passed by studying notes for five minutes before taken the actual test. He also mentioned the Terrible Tens he created usually included "boni" which took Sora a while to realize that was Mr. Fayth's plural form of "bonus".

"So how was your first day?" Leon asked Sora in a surprisingly cheerful tone as his younger brother climbed into the car, heaving his backpack in with him. He shut the door and they drove off, Sora nodding in an approving way. "Pretty good."

"Make any friends yet?"

"Not really…" Sora said in a low tone, not really considering Riku or Kairi as friends. Kairi just happened to be a nice person that felt sorry for him, so she invited him to eat at their table, and Sora just so happened to gravitate towards them when they shifted their sitting location against the school wall. Besides, Riku was just some sort of bully that enjoyed glaring at him to satisfy his sadistic needs.

"Did you like the school nonetheless…?" Leon asked, sounding as if he wanted to find some sort of good thing about this school he was sending his younger sibling to. Sora shrugged, "Yeah, somewhat. The kids there are really nice and one girl even told me to sit next to her at lunch…"

"Ooooh, a girl?" Leon teased, a playful fire in his eyes, "Tell me about this _girl_…"

"It's not like that, Stupid!" Sora pouted, "She's really annoying, anyways…she wouldn't shut up. She's nice, but…geez…diarrhea of the mouth…"

Leon laughed. "_What_ did you say?"

"It's something my Leadership teacher said my class had…" Sora explained, "But I think he called it 'logorrhea' or something…"

"Huh…" Leon leaned both his forearms on the steering wheel in a casual gesture before saying, "That sounded half-way smart. Maybe this school really _was _a good idea…"

"Shut up…" Sora muttered, looking out the window somewhat thoughtfully, "What's got you in such a good mood?"

"Got a job!" Leon announced with a thumbs up as if he had been waiting for Sora to ask this the whole time, "And my manager is really…well, heh, I got a job, that's all."

"Really _what_?" Sora pressed, cocking his head to the side and smirking. Leon motioned his hands a bit and opened his mouth a few times, but coherent words didn't seem to form until he finally managed to say, "…pretty?"

"Ohhh, so it's a _girl_?" Sora teased in the same tone Leon used earlier, "Tell me about this—" but the brunette bit his lip for his brother gave him a look that suggested him to be quiet or he wasn't going to live much longer. "Sorry." He muttered in a way to beg for forgiveness. "Where did you get the job at anyway?"

"The movie theater down the street." Leon pointed it out as the car zoomed past it, and Sora's eyes followed where his fingers pointed. He missed the exact location, but he got the picture.

"So…do you have food for me tomorrow?" Sora asked, moving on with this subject his brother was actually interested in.

"Yes," Leon nodded, "But keep in mind it's a bunch of junk food since…well, I get movie theater food for free. Plus I got these crackers from some random person who…decided to give me crackers…" he cleared his throat obviously, "But I have some food nonetheless…"

"What did you get me? Popcorn, crackers, and a snickers?" Sora asked curiously.

"I actually got you a muffin instead of a Snickers." Leon laughed in his throat.

Sora blinked. "You can get _muffins_ at your movie theater?"

"I thought the same exact thing."

The next morning rolled around on it's leisure after Sora and Leon filled themselves with a microwavable pizza and a late night movie. Leon jumped out from his light dozing and told Sora to go to bed once he checked the clock. It was nearly midnight and they had to leave the house at seven to get to his school on time.

Naturally, Sora awoke that morning at six thirty with an attitude that could kill. His body needed at _least _eight hours of sleep; any less and he was a walking corpse. Leon grew tired of calling his brother awake and turned to walk out of the room, but not before cleverly saying, "Guess you won't be seeing Riku today…"

Sora bounded instantly up into a seated position, his eyes wide with fear and his chest heaving heavily as if he just awoke from an incredibly horrifying nightmare. "H-how do you know about Riku?" he asked his brother breathlessly. Leon threw a lazy hand in the air and peeked over his shoulder at his brother.

"What can I say? You talk quite a lot in your sleep."

The older brother laughed quite heartily for himself as he exited the room completely, leaving Sora blushing as he covered his mouth with both hands, seriously considering binding his mouth shut before sleeping the next night…or not sleeping at all, if he could manage it.

He dressed himself in Tuesday's navy-blue oxford and a second pair of khaki pants and heaved up his considerably light book bag before following his key-bearing brother out the door.

"So…is Riku that girl you were talking about?" Leon managed to prod as they entered the car. Sora had a go at one of Leon's official glares, but must have failed greatly for he was rewarded with raucous laughter from the older brunette as he climbed into the car. The younger pouted as he slammed his door shut and they arrived at Twilight High School once again thirty minutes later.

Mr. Rose actually made it to class that day, and Sora knew right away that he didn't like him. For starters, his hair was an incredibly hellish pink…well, carnation pink. Sora often forgot he was even a man until he started speaking again for he exuded an incredibly thick air of femininity, not to mention the unmistakable aroma of roses., except for his deep voice. He started the class off with a considerably hard lesson for students totally new to the Spanish language: conjugation charts. Despite his knowledge of knowing that his students were new to Spanish, however, he acted as if they knew the language all their life.

Health was as fun and zany as always, even if they were actually starting to learn something. Miss. Gainsborough informed them that next week they were going to need to wear their gym clothes and bring a towel on Tuesday and Thursday. Apparently the class was split between health and physical education…

Science went through one of Sora's ears and out the other. It was pretty much the same for everyone except Riku. Riku was seen with a piece of paper, a mechanical pencil poised above its surface and taking notes every so often.

Then Algebra came along.

"You all must remember that there was a homework assignment last night…" Miss Gainsborough announced to them all, "…right?"

Sora cringed, obviously having forgotten to finish his homework. Riku glared at him from the side and rolled his eyes, finishing by perching his head up with an elbow and whispering harshly, "Wanna copy mine?"

Sora stared at the silver-haired boy in somewhat of a disbelieving gesture, but nodded vigorously as Riku pulled out a sheet of answers. The brunette transferred them in a scrawl onto his own unfinished sheet before Miss Gainsborough crossed over to their table and he hastily handed her both sheets. She gave them both a suspicious look before departing to her desk. After getting math equations forcefully crammed into his mind, Sora flitted off to lunch in search of Kairi.

The only reason he purposely searched for the girl instead of Riku was because she was the one who invited him to sit with her and Riku, so he assumed that it was his duty to look for her _instead _of Riku, but…he felt stupid when he thought back to science class. Kairi's seat had been empty that day, so did that mean…she was absent?

He quickly scanned over the heads of the freshmen and sophomores, finding Riku's back at the front of them. Roxas' head of blond could be seen perched next to him. Unsurely, Sora sat himself in front of the two, smiling wryly at them as he took out his bags of popcorn and crackers from his purple lunchbox.

Riku looked up at him from the words in his book, looking from the brightly colored lunch box to the bag of crackers in Sora's hands. He huffed through his nose.

"A purple lunch box and crackers? That's sooo like a freshman…" he returned to his book as Sora frowned sheepishly, hunching his shoulders. Even if what Riku said was on the ridiculous and teasing side, he couldn't help but feel hurt by the mere way that he said it, and the way Roxas laughed at it, confirming the stupidity of his lunch.

There was silence as the trio ate. Sora couldn't help but wonder quietly to himself if he was the cause of the silence. He knew that if he wasn't there, Roxas and Riku would be exchanging ideas openly, but there just happened to be this kid that they didn't know well enough interrupting them with a constant void of silence and peeks at Riku's reading face. Riku would occasionally peek at Sora's peeking face and Sora would quickly look away, shoving a cracker in his mouth hastily. Riku sighed.

"_Why _did she have to tell him to sit here?" he said to the sky, "Now he's going to sit here _every day _and think that we're his friends or something…" he directed his attention back to the coy brunette and asked sarcastically, "…do you have _no _friends?"

"Mm-mm." Sora shook his head as he pulled his muffin out of his box. Both Roxas and Riku eyed it as if it were a dangerous bomb. Sora looked from one to the other questioningly. "What?" he asked.

"Are you _crazy_?" Roxas hissed, "Why did you bring that here?"

"It's…my lunch…" Sora muttered indifferently, going to take a bite of it. Riku cried out an incoherent noise, reaching out a hand to snatch it away from him.

"You didn't read the note that I gave you yesterday from Yuna, did you?" Riku hissed behind gritted teeth. Sora shook his head, still confused. The boy opposite of him slapped a palm to his forehead and brandished the muffin, explaining, "Sugar, dyes, and anything artificial in food is the equivalent of _marijuana _at Twilight."

Sora cocked his head to the side. "Huh?"

"If a teacher knows you have this, you're going to –" he cut himself off, hiding the muffin hastily under the table as an incredibly obese being walked by, keys jingling. Sora watched him warily and nearly jumped out of his own pants. The being wasn't like any other person he had seen in all his life. In fact, they weren't human. They had a lolling tongue, skin as white as sour cream, and eyes in the shape of crosses. The crosses crept over their table as he asked in terribly broken English, "What here wrong?"

"Nothing, Mr. Qu." Roxas told the obese being quickly. Without a single readable facial expression, the creature turned back around to scout the rest of the pavilion. When they were all sure he was out of earshot, Riku whispered, "_That's _what I'm talking about. That's Quina: the lunch Nazi."

"So how're we going to get rid of the…'marijuana muffin'?" Roxas joked. Riku shifted his eyes from side to side and Sora could hear the muffin collide softly with the concrete beneath their feet. "No one will notice…" he whispered, watching Sora continue to eat what was left of his lunch.

"Crackers…" he muttered before going back to his book.

Sora decided quietly to himself later that day that he had to find a way to push back whatever feelings he was having for Riku Kagi. If he was around anyone else, he was open and friendly, but Riku…he was a bully, but not. If he was truly a bully, Sora would have avoided him at all costs, but he didn't. No matter how many times and how badly Riku teased him, he still hovered around him. He had to learn to withstand all the petty insults and the countless times he called him "freshman"…In fact, Sora later told him to stop calling him that and Riku smirked, telling him, "It's not an insult – it's a status. You can't do anything about it," and prodded him curtly on the forehead with his fore- and middle finger.

"Something wrong…?" a misty voice asked him and he was brought back to life. He looked into Naminé's curious lavender-blue eyes and shook his head. "Nothing's wrong…"

He shifted his eyes down to the margin of her paper where her blue erasable pen was pointing at an intricate blue rose. He tilted his head to get a better look at it, saying, "Wow, you draw good."

"Thank you…" Naminé cooed, blushing slightly and hunching her shoulders. Sora tightened his lips, noticing the pink in her cheeks and looking back at the board. "Can you draw?" she asked sweetly.

"Huh? Oh, no…not really…" Sora muttered, scrawling a little doodle on his own margin, "Mediocre at best…"

She looked at the face that he had recently scribbled and shrugged. "It's okay…" she muttered, rubbing her shoulder.

"I'm awesome at stick figures, though…" Sora mentioned in a boastful way, "Check it out…" and he drew a large stick figure over his English notes with a :B face, causing Naminé to giggle.

"Hart and Snow…" Larxene growled, ceasing her writing on the board and letting the chalk screech down the _l _she was in the middle of writing. Sora shivered at the noise it produced before asking sheepishly, "Yes…?"

"Shove it." She simply said through gritted teeth, continuing to write her instructions.


	5. Troubles, Issues, Conflicts

OKAY, so…I'm thinking of writing a SoRiku fan fiction, and I'm thinking along these lines… Hiiiiii again, peoplez. I just have to say a few things before I start… First off, I find it highly entertaining on how you comment on Riku and take a stab at his personality, saying things like "He seems mean, but nice at the same time…", "He seems to have a secret he's hiding…", "He's funny…", because, well, as I've said before, half of this story is true. Every named character in this story is based off of someone that I know or knew. RIKU, however, is a lunatic (heh) and checks this fiction daily to see if it's updated, but not ONLY that…he reads the comments you guys put. So watch what you say – RIKU IS WATCHING J00. And so is Sora! Heeeheeeeeeee…I don't know about anyone else. I actually hope no one else in this story is reading this o.o

_And I promise to put as little Quina as possible. QUINA IS ANNOYING._

_OH and sorry for taking so freakin' long. I kinda have to go to rehearsals every day…_

_Chapter 5:__ Troubles, Issues, Conflicts_

"Alright…" Leon announced after a heavy, burdened breath, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel. His expression looked grim and far away as Sora glanced at it, the glance returned after a moment's time. "I have a problem…" the older brunette continued.

"Yes?" Sora asked, looking only slightly concerned.

"Well, you see…" Leon began, scratching the back of his head to delay his answer, "I caught wind of my work hours, and they seem to overlap my pick up time for you…"

"'Pick up time'?" Sora asked, speaking before processing the words in his mind, "Oh…"

"Yes, pick up time." Leon sounded patiently aggravated, "Meaning that you get out of school at three thirty PM while I get out at around seven PM."

Sora paused in thought for a moment, then sat back, slumping in his seat. "Oh…" he muttered, sounding defeated. "You can't…you can't compromise?"

"There were two other options…" Leon continued as he turned into their apartment complex's entrance, "One option overlapped the time that I had to drop you off and the other overlapped the time when I had to sleep, so…"

"You could sleep during the day!" Sora chirped, sounding distressed.

"I could!" Leon interrupted, still quite patiently, "But I won't. You see, I thought it would be far easier if you could ask around for a ride home…"

"But – " the younger boy's face contorted into both a worried and embarrassed expression, "Leon, I've only been at this school for a week! Do you think I would know someone well enough to have them drive me home?"

"_Riku _has a car…" Leon laughed, "Why don't you ask _her _to –"

"Jesus _Christ, _Leon, would you quit watching me when I'm sleeping?" Sora cried out, his voice easily becoming higher and higher, "It's just plain creepy…"

"I didn't this time…" Leon told him rather indifferently, "I read it off one of the papers you gave me."

"One of the papers I…?" Sora began, sitting straight up again, "_What_?"

"Yeah, remember you gave me those sheets from your principal?" he fumbled around in the compartment in the middle of the two, pulling out the stack of folded up papers and handing them to Sora without looking at him. "You must've mixed it in with them on accident, but yeah…"

Sora shuffled through them and found the sheet he had finished in science class the first day of school, reading Riku's signature over and over again without really realizing it.

"And what's with that guy, Kairi?" Leon asked, "What kind of boy owns more than two pets…?"

"Kairi's a _girl_…" Sora murmured, getting annoyed by his brother's unusually talkative attitude, "She's the one who asked me to sit next to her…"

"Oho_ho_!" Leon chuckled as he parked in front of their salmon-colored building, "So that one _wasn't _Riku? Ahhhhhaha…then who's this _Riku_? The hotter one?"

"No! Riku's a –!" but Sora failed to finish his sentence as he closed his car door, shouldering his pack. He would've said "boy" if he didn't want to give his older brother the wrong impression. He didn't know what he had been saying about Riku in his sleep. Frankly, he didn't _want _to know. He hoped it wasn't anything that suggested he _liked _Riku, but…the way Leon acted whenever Sora spoke about him seemed to suggest that whatever he was saying about Riku was something any hormone-filled teenager would say about a girl he wanted to fuck or something. Sora blushed furiously as Leon produced his keys from his pocket.

"So, Riku's the hotter one?" Leon said matter-of-factly, patting Sora on the back reassuringly, "Good, good…I'll keep that in mind."

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

Sora spent the weekend in what he would consider pure boredom, playing his worn GameBoy Advanced as he lay on his back, throwing his head off the foot of his bed. He lazily leveled up his Mudkip as the hours went by until Leon came home from work, bearing grocery bags. Sora bounded up to greet him, flipping his game off without even caring about the last time he saved.

"You got _food_?" Sora asked, eyeing the groceries bags littering the kitchen's table. He was unable to contain his excitement, a grin across his face as if he had an epiphany, "Actual _food_?"

"Not quite…" Leon corrected him, indicating a pack of juice boxes as he unpacked them from a brown plastic bag, "Since your school is so anal about the whole sugar and all-natural ingredient shit, I had to scour the shelves for things that didn't have sugar, fructose, sucrose, lactose, or any other kind of 'tose' there is in the first seven ingredients, so I got you some marvelous one hundred percent natural juice made with absolutely no 'artificial' sugar or dyes…"

He took in a breath after his incredibly annoyed-sounding speech, slamming the ruby-colored drinks onto the table.

"So…what am I going to _eat_?" Sora asked, sounding unfazed when he really hated the fact that his drink wasn't going to have any sugary substances to satisfy his sweet needs.

"Oh, that's simple…" Leon remarked as he set a loaf of wheat bread on the counter, "Just make yourself a turkey and cheese sandwich every morning and you'll be set. You'll just need some pretzels or crackers—" he paused, giving Sora a quizzical glance over his shoulder. He put a hand on his hip, watching his younger brother try and contain his silent giggling. "What…?" he asked slyly.

"Nothing, nothing…" Sora muttered with a wavering voice, letting the remainder of his laughter fade into silence.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

Needless to say, Sora found the Monday going back to school simply terrifying, merely due to the fact that he absolutely _had _to ask someone he knew there for a ride home. Otherwise, he would be left at school for three and a half hours and get an earful from Leon – staying after school cost money.

He spent his entire time in Science class avoiding Riku's eyes. It was a difficult feat for Sora to accomplish for Riku tended to try and catch his as much as possible, especially since he showed all signs of not wanting to make any sort of contact with the silverette. Any time Sora seemed to not like something, Riku tended to amplify it just to see how huffed up the small brunette would get.

"Do you have something to tell me?' Riku asked directly while the rest of the class spoke as Miss. Gainsborough escaped into the opposite room, asking Miss. Nymph for some transparencies during Algebra. Sora flinched at the question, wondering for a brief moment if the older boy could read minds.

"You haven't gawked at me all day…" Riku observed, "You're either seriously sick or you have something to tell me that you don't want to."

"Eheh…" Sora laughed nervously, avoiding Riku's eyes even more and tapping his finger on the top of his desk nervously, "Y'see, my brother just got a job…"

"Uh-_huh_…" Riku sighed, placing a cheek to his fist and sounding as uninterested as possible.

"And his shift doesn't end until after we're out of school…" he continued, "So I was just…wondering, if, er, you could…drive me home…?"

Riku raised an eyebrow at the brunette, somehow appearing as if he saw this question coming. He brought both his hands to his temple and pushed his hair back dramatically while sighing. "I stay after school every day because I'm…in the same situation…" he added rather hastily, "Why can't you just stay after school…?"

"It would cost us money that we don't _have_." Sora told him rather impatiently, "Besides, didn't you tell me you could drive?"

"I can." Riku nodded, "I have my license and everything, but my roomies won't let me drive to school. They don't have the slightest ounce of trust in me, so yeah…but…" he rubbed his chin, musing, "Since you're so cute, I think I'll make an exception."

"Really?" Sora asked, his face lighting up. He settled his cobalt eyes in Riku's teal ones for the first time that day, the silverhead smiling. "Really. Just do me one favor."

"Yes…?" Sora beckoned.

"At the end of Leadership, your seventh period…" he began, "Ask Mr. Fayth for his keys."

"His _keys_?"

"Yes." Riku nodded, "And since your not the brightest crayon in the box and can't make up a good excuse, say that Riku left something in the car."

Sora cocked his head to the side and studied the boy's face for a moment's time before laughing and saying, "You can't be serious. Why…_how _would you leave something in the principal's husband's _car_?"

"He'll buy it. Trust me…" Riku smirked, "He's almost as stupid as you."

"Miss. _Geeeeeeee_…" a nasal voice whined from behind Sora. He turned around to find the dusty blond rocking back and forth in his chair and staring at the clock as he moaned, "It's time for luuuuuuunch…"

"Oh!" the faraway voice of their Algebra teacher called from the opposite room, "You can go, everyone!"

Everyone had already zipped up their bags and hoisted up their lunch if they had it on them. They all pushed in their chairs simultaneously and headed to the not-so-distant pavilion.

Sora bent down to receive his plastic bag occupied by his turkey sandwich, crackers, and sugar-free juice from his locker and made his way to the table. He sat wordlessly at his usual spot, saving a seat for Kairi. He'd rather Riku sit in front of him than next to him only because he'd rather speak to him without having to turn his head, but…

Sora jumped, as always, when he heard the crinkling of his plastic bag as it was lifted from the seat next to him and placed on the tabletop. Instead of Kairi, it was Riku who took the seat, opening a book in front of him. Kairi hadn't arrived yet.

"Is Kairi absent…?" the brunette asked absent-mindedly, for he remembered as soon as he said so that Kairi attended Science class that morning.

"Nu-uh…" Riku shook his head, not taking his eyes from the text in front of him, "She's sitting somewhere else now."

"Why?"

Riku shrugged, but in a way that told Sora that he just didn't want to talk about it. The brunette kept silent, until the sound of a bag being placed on the opposite bench caused him to look up from his sandwich once again.

"May I sit here…?" her soft voice asked Sora as she pointed down at the seat. A head of pale starlight suggested to Sora that it was Naminé who had asked the question. He gazed into her dreamy lavender eyes and nodded several times, the girl beaming back at him.

"Thank you…"

She put a hand to the bench before sitting herself down and lacing her fingers as she placed her elbows down on the table, bringing her fused hands to her lips as she closed her eyes peacefully. Sora took only half a second to realize that she was blessing her food before eating it when she broke from the trance and began opening her canister of rice.

Riku said nothing, but Sora could almost hear his incessant glare, even if he wasn't looking at the frail girl.

"So…" Sora began, trying to break the awkward silence hovering between the three of them. He was used to awkward silences between himself, Roxas, and Riku, but when there was a female among them, he felt the impulse to jump into conversation. He shrugged with one shoulder and swallowed the bit of sandwich he had chewed before asking, "Any good drawings lately?"

"Mm-hm!" the girl nodded, speaking behind her rice, "Ah droo dis in maf…"

Riku actually looked up from his book to throw his deadly glare at the girl as if to snarl, "Didn't your mother ever teach you to eat with your mouth _closed_?", but Naminé didn't seem to notice as she set down her silverware and dug inside her floral pattern backpack. She produced a sheet of loose paper bearing a picture of what looked like…

"Is that _me_?" Sora questioned, his voice cracking a bit on his high "me". Riku literally slammed a hand down on the table in aggravation. Naminé didn't even notice as she hastily shoved the cute drawing of chibi Sora back into her folder and laughed nervously. "Eheheh…n-no, sorry…wrong picture."

With shaking hands, she produced a sheet adorned with sketches of several animals including wolves, tigers, and several exotic birds. Sora took the sheet in his hands and observed every one of them with amazement. The sketches were rough, but they were accurate nonetheless and had a certain beauty about them.

"These are really good, Naminé…" he gasped, taking a last look at them before returning the sheet to the girl. She smiled sweetly to him, giving her thanks.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, clasping a hand to her mouth, "I almost forgot! We have homework due for Miss Nymph and I don't have it done!" she sat up abruptly and addressed Sora and only Sora with an, "I'll be right back!" and ran off to the lockers along the east side of the building.

There was a moment's agonizing silence when Riku finally stated, "So, you finally got yourself a little fresh meat buddy?"

Sora gave Riku a nearly threatening glare as if to tell him to behave. "…I guess. She really isn't that much of a 'buddy'…more like a random girl who decided to warm up to me."

"Would that make her _more _than a 'buddy' then?" Riku asked almost seriously, though his smirk made the remark devoid of all seriousness, "Or is she just in the way…?"

Sora raised an eyebrow at him. "'In the way…'?"

Riku sighed, shaking his head. "Clueless as always."

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

When seventh period, Leadership rolled around, Sora thought his heart would leap out of his chest. He was mulling the several words of Riku spoken to him in that single day. He was ordered to lie to a teacher in order to get his keys…No, not just a teacher. This was the principal's _husband_. He was also feeling a little uncomfortable with Naminé by his side. She was obviously taking a liking to him and was already considering him more than a "buddy", as the picture she drew of him revealed. _I mean_…he thought to himself, _Who draws someone if they don't have a crush on them_…?

At the thought, Sora picked up his pencil, feinting the act of taking down notes as he made himself a pathetic stick figure with dot eyes and straightened long hair. He drew his tool back and observed his five-second masterpiece with a cocked head, grinning to himself and adding a three-shaped mouth to the figure and quickly erasing the entirety of it as Naminé's wandering eye flew over his work.

"Do you ever actually take notes…?" the delicate girl asked coyly. Sora shrugged and nodded a few times. She smirked suspiciously at him.

"What is this week's lesson on, then?"

"Uhm…" Sora drummed his fingers on the desk a few times before answering, "Po…tential…?"

Naminé laughed softly before pulling a sheet of paper out from her own and sliding it over to him. "That was last week's lesson. This week is passion."

"'Passion', huh?" Sora asked under his breath as he skimmed over the first sheet of notes, noticing how she took her notes down with more pictures than she did words. She replaced the words "love" and "heart" with a small image of a heart, of course, and drew illustrations next to certain things in order to help her remember, he assumed. He passed the sheet back to her after going through them thoroughly and whispering a small, "Thank you…"

Before Sora could even blink, Mr. Fayth pointed out the time, three thirty, and told his class to begin packing. He turned the volume up on the phone hanging on the wall as a strong voice announced each student's dismissal.

It was time.

Sora stood up, keeping his eyes on the jaunty blond teacher as he pushed his chair in and sauntered sheepishly over to him. Mr. Fayth peered over his shuffled papers at the brunette and raised his eyebrows, greeting him with a, "Hey!"

"Yeah, hey…" Sora replied, rubbing his opposite arm nervously, "Listen, I was told by Riku Kagi that he forgot something in your car and he kinda…needs to borrow your keys…"

"He forgot something in my car…?" the teacher rubbed his chin and mused for a bit, "What did he leave?"

"His…glasses…" Sora made up. He would've smacked his forehead obviously if he didn't see the believing light click on in the blonde's eyes.

"Ah, I see…" he smiled, "His contacts not working for him?"

"No, sir." Sora quickly said.

"Alright, then…" he yanked a ring of keys out of his pocket, the jingling of them being like the sound of bells to Sora. Glorious bells. "Here you go."

He let the tools drop into the palm of his hands and let his eyes go over them a few times before nodding his thanks and dashing out the room, down the hall…when he remembered that he left his backpack in the room. He backtracked, hoisted up his pack, and resumed dashing down the hall. He skidded to a halt once the door to Miss Nymph's room opened. Afraid he would be assaulted by one of the electric witch's mouth-offs, Sora recoiled.

"Did you get them…?" asked a willing, almost kind voice for a change. The door closed behind the silverette, revealing Riku's hopeful face. Sora nodded and held out the keys for the boy to savor the sight of before seizing the clinking metal in his hands and grinning.

"Great…" he laughed, "Let's go."


	6. The Detention Battle

_Okay, guys, sorry for taking forever to update, but I have computer issues. My computer crashed, so...yeah, I'm using Axel's computer now! WOO! Actually not the Axel from this story, but yeah...Sorry if it's a bit shorter than usual. I wrote this at school first, and this was 20 pages in my notebook. 20. PAGES. I have too much time on my hands in school..._

_Oh, and Riku would like to know what a star star is o.o_

_Chapter 6_: _The Detention Battle _

Sora could literally feel the blood pounding rapidly through his veins, hear it pounding in his ears. His palms were slowly condensing themselves in sweat as he shivered out of what he learned was pure terror. He was walking into the parking lot in Riku's wake, watching as he toyed with the chiming metal keys. They would get caught, he was sure of it. He had "I'm going to steal the principle's car" written all over his face in every way.

"R-Riku?" Sora finally managed to utter, "Aren't you making it a_ little_ too obvious?"

"The more obvious you make something, the less obvious it is..." he said over his shoulder, double-taking to study the brunette with a raised brow. "Can you _not_ look so nervous though? _That's_ what makes it _really _obvious."

"Where are you two going?"

Riku merely stopped in his tracks at the voice, looking up at the towering faculty member. Sora squealed in fright. This man had hair that reached all the way to his knees in a cascading river of silver. He had shimmering green eyes that seemed to burn with fire as they studied the two of them.

"Nowhere..." Riku told him casually, "We were just going to steal Mrs. Fayth's car, that's all."

The man chuckled sardonically and nodded his head to the smaller silverette before heading in the opposite direction they were going.

"See what I mean?" Riku pointed, giving Sora a rare smile, "That was Mr. Tenshi. He gives detentions left and right to kids just because he feels like it, _especially _Cloud...and you know Cloud–he never does _anything _wrong." He took his shoulder and moved him toward a dusty orange van

"Get in." He ordered after popping open the passenger door. Sora looked at him questioningly before climbing in. Riku closed the door a bit too soon, catching Sora in the feet. He recoiled and managed to sit himself upright when Riku came in on the other side, not hesitating to shove his key into the ignition and turn it.

"Seatbelt." He simply stated, causing Sora to quickly scramble for his buckle and attach the seatbelt accordingly.

"So..." the silverette began conversationally as he pulled out of the parking lot. "Have any trouble with Tidus?"

Sora would've asked who Tidus was if he didn't recall that Riku tended to call all teachers by their first name.

"He asked me what you left in the car..."

"And...what'd you say?"

"I said you left your glasses."

Riku stepped on the breaks a little too hard, causing Sora to be temporally in a choke hold by his seatbelt. "_How did you know I wear glasses?_" he asked in a hiss.

Sora shrugged defensively and muttered, "It was just a lucky guess, I swear!"

The silverhead gave the brunette an unwavering glare before looking back at the road and crossing onto it.

"Not to be nosy, but..." Sora began several minutes later, "Who would be stupid enough to think that one of their students would leave his glasses in his car?"

"I've just been in this car a few times..." Riku replied casually, "And I actually _did_ leave my glasses in here." He reached inside the side door, keeping his eyes foward as he pulled out a slim black case and added, "Stalker."

"Hunh?" Sora gasped, "I'm _not_ a stalker!"

"Suuuure you aren't," Riku nodded sarcastically.

"Well, who're you to talk?" Sora remarked with a sly grin, "I haven't given you directions or anything and you're already halfway to my house."

The silver-haired boy opened his mouth, awaiting his usual involuntary snide remark...but it failed to surface. "Touché," he grumbled after an aggravated sigh. "You actually _do _have your smart moments."

Sora groaned angrily and bumped his forehead onto the window. He remembered after a moment that he was riding in his principle's car and started feeling the same feeling of pure terror he was feeling earlier.

"Aren't we going to have to do this...everyday?" he asked, looking worriedly.

"_What_?" Riku asked, a hint of rising anger in his tone. Sora jumped because he just remembered that he failed to tell him that his brother was going to go over hours every day, not just that one time.

"Well, you see..." Sora began, "My brother works every day, and...that means I would need a ride home every day, so -"

"Why don't you ask someone else?" Riku asked rather quickly, "I'm not the _only_ one who can drive, you know. You could ask Axel-"

"He doesn't know where I live, though," Sora whined, although the reason he really didn't want to ride with Axel was because he felt threatened by the flamboyant redhead.

"You could tell him." Riku suggested, opening a hand in gesture.

"I have no sense of direction..." Sora said to cover up his true feelings (although it was actually the truth). "I don't even know my own address yet."

Riku sighed, "If you want me to be in the same car with you _so_ bad, I'll ride with Axel with you," he drummed his fingers quickly, processing the idea before saying, "I have to ask my parents permission though...don't get your hopes up."

Sora squealed, unable to suppress his glee. He watched as they pulled into his neighborhood and in front of his pink-colored building. He peered out the window and blinked at the sight of Leon's car parked in the spot next to them. Leon had just opened the door to it, stepping out.

"Here we are," Riku announced as if presenting something. "Is...that your brother? Because he seems to know you."

Sora jumped and turned his attention back at Leon, who was waving at him with a hint of a smile across his face.

"Y-Yeah, that's him," Sora answered, putting his hand to the door handle, but he drew his hand back as the door clicked at him, locking.

"_I thought you said he was working_?" the silverette hissed, sounding seriously aggravated.

"That's what he said!" Sora cried defensively, "But-- he-- I--"

Riku groaned, unlocking the doors and kicking his door open, throwing Leon one of his specially perfected glares. Even the light in Leon's eyes seemed to vanish.

"Heheh...hey there," he laughed nervously as Sora exited from the car. "So you drove Sora home, huh?"

"Yes," the silverhead coldly answered, "but he told me you were working today."

"Oh yeah...sorry about that," the tall brunette scratched the back of his head, "They decided to let me out early today."

"Ah," Riku simply stated. He threw Sora a glance, causing the small brunette to smile instead of flinch for some reason. Maybe there was some kind of warmth behind those eyes that only he recognized?

"See ya, Sora." Riku told him, climbing back into the van and nearly closing the door before Leon cried, "Wait!"

He ran to the other side of the car where Riku sat, staring at the tall brunette expectantly.

"We haven't properly introduced ourselves." he began. Sora felt his stomach wrench, running to his brother's side.

"My name's Leon." he told him with a grin, holding out a hand. Riku looked at it expectantly, then shifted his eyes to the worried expression of Sora. He studied his eyes for a moment's time, finally seeming to understand, but the smirk on his face told Sora that he felt like disobeying his plea..

"Riku." the silverette nearly laughed, taking Leon's hand firmly into his own. Leon's reaction to his name was one that Sora never saw in him. His pupils narrowed, his eyes widened, and Sora could see the color leave his flesh. When their hands unlinked, he let his arm fall limply to his side, his eyes faraway as Riku closed the door and drove back to school.

There was silence. A deadly silence. The only thing heard was their heartbeats, their rapid heartbeats, and the occasional far off screech of a mockingbird.

"Riku, huh?" Leon finally managed to chuckle. "Riku...Riku... 'the hotter one'?"

Sora remained silent, knowing that any excuse he gave wouldn't be believed. His truthful silence gave Leon the chance to nod, as if he understood.

He didn't make any sort of contact with his younger brother as they climbed the towering stairs...any meaningful contact. He nudged him accidentally while trying to unlock the door to the apartment, but didn't say "sorry" or "my bad". It was as if Sora wasn't there. It had only lasted two minutes and already Sora felt neglected, guilty, and fed up with his brother's immature behavior.

"Leon, I--" Sora began once the silent brunette nearly closed the door in his face. He became frustrated and glared into his brother's blue-grey eyes intensely.

"Leon, what did I do wrong?"

The taller sibling looked back at him haggardly...almost sadly. He sighed a long deep, cleansing sigh as he shuffled his way to the couch, placing his keys on the counter. He put his hands to his forehead and slouched. Sora gave him a more comforting look and sat beside him on the couch. He lifted a hand to place on his back, but the brother lifted himself up before he did so.

"I'm sorry, it's just..." Leon began, looking straight ahead, "I had it all set up in my mind that you had a crush on this girl named 'Riku'," he shrugged, "But I was just assuming, see...you tend to talk in your sleep and you've done that ever since you could talk so...I shouldn't assume..."

He stood himself up, pushing down on his thighs to do so.

"Leon?" Sora asked. Leon made the first eye contact he had made with him in awhile.

"What did I say in my sleep...about Riku?"

Leon raised his eyebrows and grinned, reflecting on Sora's words. "I'll let you find that out on your own.

* * *

Needless to say, that week for Sora was a psychological roller coaster. All that floated around in his mind seemed to connect to Riku in the end because of Leon's line.

"I'll let you figure it out on your own," Sora whispered to himself as he sat against the school's wall, "What does that mean?"

"Hey," Riku greeted casually as he set his messenger bag next to the small brunette. Sora smiled his reply, feeling warmth even though the source of his problems was staring at him straight in the face.

Science class, the only time Sora really saw Axel, was when the warmth began to slowly turn cold.

The tall, loud redhead sat directly behind Sora and Hayner, within blow-up-my-ear distance of Sora, even if it was two feet or so. The brunette, although instructed to do so, was not driven enough to look at his "fellow" classmate, or _any_ "fellow" classmate, for that matter. Riku seemed to catch on, for Sora felt a gentle prod on his shoulder.

Sora turned around and flinched at the sight of a rather flustered looking Kairi. She had pushed a folded up wad of paper into his shoulder blade and, questionably, he took it into his hands.

"It's from Riku," Kairi sighed with contempt, taking her seat next to said Riku. She was obviously not happy with her choice of seating at the beginning of the year. Sora shrugged and unraveled the paper.

_Aren't you going to ask Axel about driving you home?_

Mr. Cloner began his lesson, letting the whole room fall into some sort of silence. Sora looked back at the silverette and shrugged mouthing, "I don't know." Riku took his pencil to hand and mimed writing on paper, suggesting he write his response. Sora nodded and scribbled a quick, "Why don't you ask him?"

He threw a wary glance in the direction of Mr. Cloner and found that he was occupied with his beaker as he displayed it to the class. He stretched over the aisle and handed Kairi the folded letter, who slid it over to Riku in turn.

Sora kept a pretending-to-be-listening eye on Mr. Cloner as he watched Riku scribble in furious cursive. He cringed once the wadded-up note met the back of his head. He checked to see if their oblivious teacher had noticed, but he continued to stare into space as he spoke to himself rather than his students. Sora nodded his approval before stooping down to obtain the note from under his seat, folding it open as noiseless as possible under the table.

_It's not like you're asking him on a _date_ or something..._

Sora scowled at the boy's smart handwriting and wrote underneath the small scrawl, "_**No**_. Did you even get permission from your roomies to ride with us?"

He passed it back while he watched Mr. Cloner continue to drone, crossing to the other side of the room. Moments later, he heard an annoying hissing noise behind him, spinning around to find Riku pointing at the note that precariously missed his head, finding the floor instead. Sora scooped it up and unraveled it.

_They won't notice I'm gone anyway. _

Sora didn't hesitate to scribble, "So you asked and they said no?" and folded it up hastily. He looked up to his dim-witted teacher who stood in the row between the silverhead and the brunette. His face was turned toward them, but his eyes were blank and didn't follow. Sora figured that if his superior had been this oblivious thus far, it must be a cinch to pass a note without even trying to be inconspicious. He watched Mr. Cloner's face carefully as he slowly reached his arm across the aisle.

"Mr. Hart."

Sora froze. Mr. Cloner's eyes were no longer blank. They were locked keenly with his.

"Detention." He simply stated, as if he never gave out this order and felt uncomfortable in giving it. Sora looked from the note in his extended arm and back to his teacher. The room's usual constant murmuring had hushed--Mr Cloner usually _never _made contact with his students.

"Wh-Why?" Sora asked rather abruptly, feeling his heart pace faster that usual.

"Passing notes is against the rules," Mr. Cloner simply said, wrenching the particular note out of his hand. Sora stuttered, trying to find something to say, but he eventually just whimpered and dropped his arm. He snuck a glance at Riku who, for once, had some kind of sympathy in his eyes. Once he realized Sora noticed it, he shot his hand in the air.

"Yes, Riku?" he asked, swerving his bulging green eyes on the boy.

"Yeah, I was passing that note, too," he said rather sarcastically.

"You didn't get caught and disrupt the whole class though," the teacher pressed, "You don't need a detention--"

"Hm, well, you know what?" Riku cut the prattling scientist off, unzipping his messenger bag and pulling out something blue in a flat container. Mr. Cloner watched him curiously, obviously trying to interpret what the situation was. Riku smirked and peeled back the case's metallic top, revealing the blue slop inside. The blueberry-apple scent told Sora that it was applesauce--_colored_ applesauce.

"Having food in class, better yet _illegal_ food, deliberately in front of me has earned you two detentions already," the teacher told his student matter-of-factly. "_Eating_ illegal food in my class deliberately would get you another day in detention."

Riku paused as if contemplating whether he should do it or not. He shrugged and dipped his finger into the sauce, scooping it up and licking it rather slowly and suggestively. The whole class gasped at his deed in dangerous amazement rather than disgust as Mr. Cloner reacted. He scowled and snatched up the blue applesauce as Riku finished licking the bit off his forefinger.

"That's three detentions, Riku," he growled for one. He was usually slow to anger, so this change of tone caused the room to fall into silence once again. He searched around the still classroom with a few swerves of the head.

"Anyone _else_ feel like disrupting the class?"

Sora blinked, processing the series of events that occurred. Riku had _three_ detentions...he only had _one_.

"Mr. Cloner!" he started, standing up simultaneously. He hurriedly pulled his shirt out of his pants, exclaiming, "My shirt is untucked!"

"That's one more detention," Mr. Cloner stated simply as if this random outburst was the last of them. "Now will you sit--"

"Wait, I'm not finished!" the excited brunette exclaimed as he hastily unfastened his belt, pulling it out vehemently. "Now I'm not wearing a belt!"

"Oh, you are _not_ challenging me to a detention battle."

Sora spun around at the sound of Axel pushing his chair back. He towered over even Mr. Cloner as his eyes grinned above his triangle tattoos.

"Sit _down_, all of you!" Mr. Cloner shouted at the boisterous class. Sora sat down immediately, feeling his adrenaline rush as he breathed deep. Hayner stole a glance at him and chuckled, most likely finding his wide-eyed expression comical. Axel looked around and grumbled moodily before sitting.

"Mr. Kagi, you have three days of lunch detention," he began, striking a finger out at the indifferent silverhead. "Mr. Hart, _you_ have three days of lunch detention." Sora flinched under the crooked finger. "And Mr. Fox, I don't see how you can get any more detentions than you already _have_."

Axel chortled in his throat and bobbed his head, smirking. Mr. Cloner opened his mouth to say more, but the girl known as Garnet shot a hand in the air.

"_Yes_, Miss til Alexandros?" he asked in a forced nice tone.

"It's time for fourth period," she simply stated in the most polite manner she could. The teacher spun around and wrinkled his protruding nose at the clock face, sighing. He uttered weakly, "You may go."

The class stood up and left simultaneously...except for Sora. He spent his time re-tucking his shirt and pulling his belt through its loops. Riku waited patiently by his side, holding his bag over his shoulder as he watched him.

"Heh," he laughed, "if I didn't see what happened earlier, I'd take this situation the completely wrong way..."

"What do you mean?" Sora asked as he fixed the buckle accordingly.

"Oh, nothing," the older boy laughed leading his smaller peer out by the shoulder.


	7. Detention?

_Okay, guys. Here's what you've been waiting for. I won't say anything more since that would be stupid and...yeah, I'll stop rambling. BEGIN CHAPTER._

Chapter 7: Detention?

Sora had never had a detention before. He scarcely ever got in trouble when it came to school, which was unusual since...he usually did things that would get _anyone _in trouble. He never did his homework and cheated off people out of habit. Then again, he never had the heart to curse, not even a simple "what the hell". Even the word "sex" made him cringe, despite his supposedly mature age.

And yet, there he was, sitting in math class next to Riku, only a mere ten minutes away from a doom unknown to Sora.

"Why'd you do that?" Sora asked earlier as Miss Gainsborough shooed her restless daughter out of the room leisurely.

"Do what?" Riku asked, pulling out his homework for Sora to ceremoniously copy.

"You know what," Sora sneered, "Why'd you get a detention after he gave me one?"

"Because..." Riku almost interrupted the brunette, "You've never had a detention at Twilight High. I don't know if Mr. Qu is here today because he's usually the one who watches people in detention, but...he's the anti-christ, I swear."

"Is he even human?" Sora asked

"No, he's a Qu," Riku said rather smartly, "Big ass fat things that eat frogs and everything else that exists. The only reason they hired him was to mock us." He ducked his head. "Remember that muffin? If he knew you had it, he would eat it right in front of you. Happens all the time."

"Wow." Sora blinked, not exactly sure why Riku was acting so serious about something that seemed so minor to him.

"Yeah," Riku nodded, "In detention, he eats a shitload of candy in front of you just to piss you off."

"That's not right!" Sora grimaced angrily before Riku told him, "But if we're lucky, he'll be absent today and Miss G. will supervise instead." Sora only had time to let his face light up before Miss G. herself began class.

Then, however, they had finished their mind-boggling lesson for the day and were on the edges of their seats, waiting for the final minute to disperse. When Miss Gainsborough's usually soothing voice announced their departure, Sora packed his things with shaking hands.

"Don't be so tense," Riku stated in a somewhat soothing tone -- far more soothing that Miss Gainesborough's, "No one will be there except Axel and...probably Roxas. Knowing him, he'd get a detention the moment he found out about Axel," he paused in thought for a moment, "Then again, Axel _always_ has detention, so Roxas _always_ had detention, too."

"Are they best friends or something?" Sora asked shouldering his pack.

"Oh, I like to say _more_ than best friends..." Riku laughed as he led the two of them out the door, "More like...friends with _benefits_."

"_Whaaaat_?" Sora exclaimed, his eyes wide.

"It's true," Riku nodded, "Just ask Roxas and he'll go 'nooooo...' and start blushing all over."

Without realizing it, Sora had been led into the History classroom where Axel and Roxas sat on opposite desktops, conversing casually with each other.

"Riku!" Axel announced cheerily, bounding from his desk in a mass of lanky limbs. He held out five fingers for Riku to slap, but Riku just looked at them. The Fox withdrew his hand as if nothing ever happened.

"Rox, you should've seen it!" he looked to the blonde who sat, studying the redhead carefully. "It was the best science class _ever_!"

"How'd _you_ get into detention?" Roxas asked his adopted brother.

Riku shrugged. "All I did was eat my colored applesauce in front of Vexen."

Roxas blinked, keeping the same straight face as he asked, "...Why did you do that?"

"Ask _him_ why he passed a note right in front of Vexen's face." He jabbed his thumb behind him, indicating the unusually quiet brunette.

"_Right in front of his face?_" Roxas articulated as he looked at Sora more like a subject that a conversationalist, "Vexen's blind, but not _that_ blind."

"Remember that one day, 'Ku?" Axel began.

"Yeah, I remember 'that one day'," Riku sneered sarcastically, "Where we did that one thing with that one guy? Oh, that was the best."

"Shut up, Jackass!" Axel growled almost playfully, "I wasn't finished."

"Continue," Riku urged.

"Okay, well...remember that one time where I was talking with Cloud and Garnet was sitting somewhere near me and Cloner told Garnet to move even though she wasn't talking?"

"Yup," Riku nodded, studying the back of his hand. "What about it?"

"I dunno, I just felt like hating on the creep."

"He yells at you if you whisper," Roxas intervened. "Everyone will be screaming bloody murder and one person whispers and...they get yelled at."

"I know, right?" Axel exclaimed.

"Oh, yeah, Axel..." Riku began, putting his hands into his pockets as he sat on the desk behind him, "Sora wanted to ask you some _questions_."

"What kind of questions and who's Sora?" the redhead asked.

"Uh...hi," Sora uttered, raising a hand in a meek gesture.

"Oh!" Axel jumped back, his lime-green eyes wildly locking with Sora's, "I'm sorry! I didn't know that was your name!"

"'S okay." Sora nodded, understanding how not very observant the firehead was.

"So what was your questions?" Axel asked, leaning back into the desk behind him in a friendly, attentive gesture.

"_Were_, Axel," Roxas corrected.

"Were, whatever."

"Er..." Sora put a fist to his chin in thought and jumped when hands grasped the straps over his shoulders and pulled his backpack off, setting it on a nearby desk.

Riku leaned against said desk and coaxed, "Go on."

"I wanted to know if you could drive me home," Sora asked rather slowly, emphasizing each syllable carefully.

"Oh, of course," Axel replied quickly in contrast to Sora's words. "I just need directions and --"

"I'll be his directions," Riku butted in. "I mean...your directions. I'll ride with you, too."

"Does that mean Roxy's coming, too?" Axel asked with some sort of ecstatic gleam in his eye. Riku glanced over to his brother, who seemed to shrink at these words.

"Nu-uh." Riku shook his head, "His absence would be more recognized than my own."

Axel sighed. "Fine...but you need to let me spend the night at least once at your house."

"Okie-doke," Riku nodded importantly, adding, "Just remember, laundry isn't 'til Thursday."

Roxas jerked his head up so fast his neck snapped. Axel sniggered. "Of course."

"Huh?" Roxas asked, a wildly frightened look in his eyes.

"What was you other question, Sora?" the silverette tilted his head to study the side of Sora's face.

"I had one?" Sora blinked.

"Yeah," Riku turned his head toward Roxas who looked back at him. "Roxas, aren't you two friends with benefits?"

The blonde instantly turned a shade of fine strawberry pink. "Nooooo..." he mumbled.

Riku smirked looking over at his shoulder at Sora and whispering, "See?"

There was a temporary moment of silence where Riku sighed, Roxas turned redder as his thoughts more graphic, Axel smirked at him, and Sora raised a finger to speak.

"So, uh...where's the teacher that's suppose to be watching us?"

"Beats me," Axel proclaimed, leaning back in his seat and kicking his feet up on the desk, "Chances are, Quina isn't here today and Miss G. doesn't feel like watching us for passing notes and untucking our shirts."

"Is that what he's here for?" Roxas asked Riku, nodding toward Sora. Riku shrugged before Roxas announced, "_Lame_."

"Seriously," Axel agreed, "So Roxy...wanna go somewhere else while Miss G. isn't here?"

"Yeah, sure," the blonde pushed himself up as the redhead bounded upward.

"Just remember to wash your hands when you're done," Riku teased. Roxas glared at him while Axel snickered, ruffling the blonde's swirly spikes. They exited out the back door, their echoing footsteps slowly fading.

"So, are we just going to stand here?" Riku asked boredly.

"Yeah," Sora decided, looking around the room suspiciously, "...why?"

Sora felt all the breath escape him as pressure gripped his shoulders and his back was forced onto the wooden surface of a desk. He closed his eyes tightly when the contact first met him. He slowly opened them once the worst was gone, though the sinewy fingers still wrapped around his thin shoulders. Fiercely glowing sea green eyes dove into his as silver strands brushed his cheeks. The boy above him searched the brunette's face anxiously, his heavy breaths caressing Sora's open lips.

"Riku..." Sora whispered with his first breath ever since the silverhead grasped him. He wasn't exactly sure what was happening...but something about the situation screamed for Sora to try and break free, but he didn't. He let the silverette's fingernails bury ever deeper into his shoulders as Riku leaned even closer into him, if that was possible. He let his lips tease the brunette, dipping his head only a millimeter away when he jerked back and laughed. "Just kidding."

He heard the mechanics of the door nearby leading to the English room as he tried to process what had just happened, still lying on the small desk underneath him as his face became hotter.

Who better to appear but Kairi _and_ Naminé, both stopping in their tracks at the questionable sight before them. Sora quickly rolled himself upward and off his back when he realized he was still laying down, but found himself falling foward. Both girls gasped, but Riku caught the clumsy brunette with one arm, pushing him back into a seated position.

"Hey guys!" Sora chirped nervously, pushing Riku's arm away, although unwillingly.

"Is Miss Gainsborough here?" Kairi asked hurriedly, looking from Sora to Riku.

"Look around," Riku said rather menacingly despite the lack of growling and hissing in the statement, "Miss Gainsborough over there? Nope. There? Nope. Over here, maybe? Nu-uh. She _isn't here_, Kairi."

Kairi's scowl deepened. Naminé looked shyly at her, looking as lost as Sora when it came to the source of their spite.

"You don't have to be such an asshole about it," Kairi snarled, "Not the right _diagnostics_." She looked back at the dainty blonde behind her and ushered, "Come on Naminé," as she exited out the door that led outside.

"God, I hate her," Riku growled, banging his fist into a desk as soon as the door clicked closed. "I hate her, I hate her, I _hate_ her!"

Sora blinked, not used to Riku displaying any sort of anger. He waited for the silverhead's panting to dwindle back into soft, slow breaths before asking, "Riku...what exactly got you guys so angry at each other?"

"You," Riku simply stated. Sora flinched at how simple it came out. "You, and the fact that I told her I was agnostic." He shook his head. "But that's just something she uses to fuel the fire. Her favorite word now is 'diagnostics', even if she _does_ use it out of context."

"So...the only reason she's _really_ mad at you..." Sora looked down at his chest and pointed at his heart, whispering, "...is because of _me_?"

"Yeah," Riku nodded, "You see, she had a stupid crush on me, but then she thought I was acting gay around you."

"Huh--?" Sora broke off, remembering what happened only seconds ago.

"Yeah," Riku laughed, "Funny thing is she noticed before you did." He cocked his head to the side and studied the brunette. "Or have you _still_ not noticed?"

"That...what?" Sora shook his head, "You don't act gay with me."

"Sora, _what did I just do_?" Riku said rather impatiently, "I would've _fucked_ you if you didn't have the two members of the Teen Girl Squad some to your rescue."

Sora simply looked at the taller boy, feeling all the pigment leave his skin.

"I got _this_ close to kissing you and would've done that, _and more_, if we didn't have certain _limiting factors_."

Sora searched Riku's face briefly before regarding the situation in the most childish of ways. "That...that happened? I thought...it was a dream."

Riku smiled warmly, a rare sight. "A good dream, or a bad dream?"

Sora's eyes twinkled with forming tears of mostly stress and confusion. Riku started.

"Whoa, hey! You're not gonna cry on me, are you?"

Sora shook his head, unable to speak with his throat so swollen.

"Hey, c'mon..." Riku took the brunette by the head, pulling him into his chest, stroking his hair. "What's the matter?"

Sora shook his head again, rubbing his face into Riku's polo. He didn't know why he just started to go into crying mode so randomly, but he knew it had something to do with relief...or was it the fact that he didn't know whether he liked Riku or not? He was confused, so all he could think of doing to make him feel better was cry.

"Haaah..." Riku sighed, "I put a little too much stress on your poor head, didn't I?"

Sora nodded, actually feeling tears this time. They must've been tears of joy to some degree because he knew for certain that his love that he questioned for the longest time was true.

Just then, the side door opened. Riku didn't pull away from Sora and Sora didn't push away in turn.

"What's this?" asked the confused voice of Miss G., "Is this a PDA violation or --"

"He's crying, Miss G." Riku stated, trying to sound annoyed, "He's crying because he's never had a detention before."

_Nice save_, Sora thought.

"Oh..." Sora could hear the kind woman's heels click quickly with the floor, feeling her cold hand touch the small of his back. He flinched, looking up and around into her brilliant emerald green eyes.

"It'll be alright, Sora," she cooed, "Detention is actually pretty fun with me. Besides, you guys didn't really do anything _that_ bad."

She removed her hand from his back to give the room a quick observation with a few turns of the head. "...Where are Axel and Roxas?" she asked the air.

"They left awhile ago to do...something," Riku replied, letting the last word or so convert itself into some sort of cough.

"Hm," the small teacher mused as she took a quick note on her clipboard. "Skipping detention isn't smart...it only get's you_ more_ detentions. I actually don't really see the logic behind the policy, but I didn't make it, so..." She glanced at the two boys who held their embrace without realizing it before smiling. "You two stay here as I go and find those two. I'd get someone else to watch you, but I don't know anyone who_ can_ at the moment, so..." She bit her lip, looking at the clock, "Oh, you stayed here that long, I can trust you guys for a couple more minutes."

"I'd try looking for them in the bathroom on the other side of the school," Riku informed her, pulling an arm away from Sora to point. Sora relented the loss of warmth. "They think they can hide on the elementary side, but with Axel being as tall as he is, it's _more_ than obvious."

"Ah, I see," Miss Gainsborough observed, holding her clipboard to her waist as she put a thoughtful finger to her bottom lip. "Thank you very much Mr. Kagi."

"No problem." Riku nodded putting his hand back to Sora's...waist? Weren't they at his head just moment's ago?

Sora felt an unusual feeling steal over him as the kind but naive teacher's heels could be heard clicking out the door and out in the outside hall as the door shut itself. There was an amazing silence. All that could be heard was his own faltered breathing.

His crying had ceased, but he buried his face into Riku's chest nonetheless. The sound of only _his_ existence unnerved him and he was hungry for the sound of Riku. It was a strange, unusual impulse, but it calmed him once he felt the steady, gentle beat of Riku's heartbeat against his forehead.

"I lied," Riku mumbled, his voice reverberating through his chest, "Axel isn't even that stupid...fucking in an elementary schooler's bathroom. No, they usually do it in the shed next to the lunch pavilion. You can imagine what people think when they hear sex noises during lunch."

"Stalker," Sora laughed, moving his cheek toward the beat. Riku pat hiis head as if acknowledging Sora's action.

It was then, in an incredibly fleeting moment, Sora thought about where he was.

He was at Twilight High, a "non-denominational" school that was generally Christian and he was with another boy. He wasn't _gay_...was he? He never had a girlfriend, and the words he said while sleeping obviously suggested that he _found_ a "girlfriend", according to Leon. But...why did he like Riku of all people? Was it his smart, sadistic humor that, even if he didn't always get it, always made him laugh? Was it the fact that even if he had a short temper when it came to everyone else, he was somehow patient with the dim-witted brunett?. Or was it just that they were both meant to be?

"Riku?" Sora asked quietly after a long moment of silence.

"Mm?" Riku hummed.

"Where are we?"

Riku blinked. "We're...in the history room serving detention?"

"No, I mean where _are_ we?" Sora corrected himself, lifting his head from the silverette's chest and backing away. "What is this? How did we end up like this so suddenly?"

"Well, let's see," Riku mused, still grasping firmly around the boy's waist even if their heads were a foot apart, "You started swooning over me and just started sitting next to me because Kairi felt sorry for your friendless state."

"And then I stayed even though Kairi had left, so..."

"She was basically our glue," Riku finished, "Remind me to thank her once she learns how to open her mind." He glanced up at the clock before telling him, "We have fifteen minutes."

"But..." Sora stuttered, "This isn't right!"

"And what isn't right about it?" Riku asked, cocking his head to the side playfully.

"I mean, I'm a guy and...you're not a girl, you're a guy, too!"

"_So?_" Riku mumbled, sounding a bit irritated.

"But..." Sora looked down in thought, confused, "It's supposed to be a boy and a girl."

"Sora," Riku said firmly, grasping the brunette's chin and forcing him to look at him, "Who ever said that?"

"Well...my parents," Sora replied.

"And where did they hear it?"

"Their parents I guess."

"And what about them? And the people before that?"

"..._Their parents_," Sora was beginning to sound impatient himself.

"Exactly." Riku nodded, "And it's most likely that the one who started the whole idea of 'only men and women can be together' only cared about sex and not love. Now..." He tossed a bit of bangs out of his eyes. "Do I love you?"

Sora hesitated. "Do you?"

"I do," Riku said with a smile. He leaned in closer to his smaller peer, his long strands of hair brushing against Sora's cheeks. "Do you love me?"

The deepest of blue eyes blinked. The boy took a moment to think..._did_ he love Riku? He seemed to tolerate him and...protect him in a way. He himself revolved around the silverette like a satellite...they were drawn together by a powerful force that couldn't be named. Did he love him?

"I do," Sora said, baffled at his own words.

"Hm." Riku laughed. "Very well then. I now pronounce us seme and uke." He grasped Sora's chin even tighter, pulling him up closer to his own face. "I may kiss the uke."

"Wh-What does that mean?"

"You'll see soon enough." He came incredibly close to the brunette in one fleeting moment, filling the space between them with a passionate kiss. Sora, at first, was shocked, gasping through the kiss and taking in Riku's own breath. After feeling the soft suction pull against his lips, he moaned, closing his eyes and wrapping his arms around the taller boy's waist.

"We have ten minutes now," Riku told him coming out of the kiss, "Unless --"

The door to the outside hall clicked and opened, causing Sora to instinctively pull away from Riku. Axel and Roxas came running in, out of breath with their belts at hand and their shirts untucked and unbuttoned at the top.

"_Shit_," Axel breathed, shutting the door forcefully behind him and locking it.

"Couldn't get any?" Riku asked indifferently, his hands still loosely wrapped around Sora's waist.

"Nuh-uh," the redhead muttered, shaking his head as his little blonde took a seat near him, heaving heavy breaths. "Mr. Tenshi spotted us. I think he's finally catching on."

"_Finally_ catching on?" Riku laughed, "You think we all haven't caught on by now, especially Mr. Tenshi?"

"Shut uppp," Axel growled, tossing his head back, pushing a few loose strands of hair out of his eyes and spotting the position Sora and Riku were in. His face lit up.

"Whoa, hey!" he said with an interested grimace, stroking an imaginary goatee, "Speaking of catching on..."

"He was crying, Axel." Riku told him defensively.

"Doesn't look like he's been crying..." Axel smirked, circling the two slowly as he pet his chin thoughtfully. Riku quickly removed his hands from Sora's waist, which felt incredibly lonely once he did so. Axel stopped right in front of Sora, studying his face scrupulously before saying, "That's almost the same exact expression Roxy had after I took his kissing virginity."

"What?" Roxas looked up, zoning back instantly.

"Nothin'," Axel said quickly passing by the blonde in order to stroke his soft spikes, saying to cover up his previous slip of the tongue, "How was your day?"

Roxas rolled his eyes and showed a hint of a smile, though he tried to suppress the grin.

"Well," Riku growled, finding his backpack on a nearby desk, "While you two lovebirds think about nothing but _sex_," both Sora and Roxas flinched at the word, "I'm going to...go to his...tory..." He froze, looking around the classroom, absent mindedly for a change, and set his backpack back down on its proper desk, sitting at it accordingly.

"Niiiice 'Ku," Axel laughed, "Haven't seen an airheaded moment like _that_ out of you in a -- well, ever."

Riku sighed, putting a hand to his forehead. "Shut up Axel."

Sora peeked at the silverette and saw how red his face was. He smiled, chuckling.

* * *

Sora had nearly forgotten about riding home with Axel. In fact, he totally forgot until the end of Leadership class. Naminé and a girl by the name of Selphie had invited him over to their corner of the room where they sat gossiping amongst each other. Sora sat there, wondering why, exactly, they brought him over when he remembered that they were girls, he was a boy...and Naminé, he already knew, had a crush on him...but he already had Riku! He opened his mouth to say something of the sort to the two giggly girls when a familiar hand met his shoulder. He looked up.

"C'mon Sora," Riku told him, instinctively eyeing the two girls who were obviously feeling threatened, "We need to catch Axel before he forgets about you."

"He wouldn't forget about me!"

"Oh yes he would." Riku laughed, pulling the brunette up by the shoulder as the two girls watched in silence. As he was led out the door, Naminé became brave enough to utter, "Bye Sora."

When the door closed behind them, Sora turned his head toward Riku and asked, "Is there a reason everyone's afraid of you?"

"There _is_ a specific reason," Riku said, "but there's also the fact that everyone, especially Naminé and...Selphie, knows that I'm agnostic and sadistic..._and_ chances are Kairi told the two of them that I act gay around you so..." Riku nodded in a conclusive way, "Yeah."

Axel emerged just in front of them from Miss Nymph's room, twirling his keys on a long finger as he whistled tunelessly. His face didn't fall on them as he turned toward the parking lot.

"Axel!" Riku called to him. The redhead spun around, caught in mid whistle, raising his eyebrows as if to ask "what?".

"You're driving us home, remember?"

"Oh!" Axel's eyes lit up as he held up a hand, telling them to stop walking. "Hang on a sec." He escaped into Mr. Cloner's room, his keys clinking in his hand.

"Oh he is _not -_-" Riku began, but he was cut off instantly by Axel's metallic keys clinking as he pushed Roxas out of Mr. Cloner's home room class.

"What the _hell _Axel!?" Roxas grumbled as Riku groaned.

"I told you that he couldn't come," the silverette snarled. Roxas blinked.

"Welllll, I'm not taking you unless Roxy comes to," Axel teased.

"Well, I'm not letting you spend the night if you let him come."

"_Welllll_," Axel growled angrily, "I've made him com _several _time before," – both Riku and Roxas groaned angrily – "and I'm not taking you guys _and_ I'll tell everyone in this little school that you two are_ gaaaaaa -_-"

An angry hand clamped over Axel's seldomly closed mouth. "You've made your point," Riku angrily, but somehow cooly, stated. "C'mon Rox."


	8. Not Soundproof

Chapter 8: Not Soundproof

_Mmkay. Sorry if this chapter's a bit too short, but I tried. I actually don't like this chapter too much. It all happens too fast. Hopefully no one will mind. This chapter is __**barely **__accurate when it comes to real life. A few things between Sora and Riku are actually true and/or have actually been said before. Sora's whole explosion was my own words and Riku's was actually his taken from his sight ( HEH I'm advertising) and Riku actually IS allergic to nuts and grass. Heehee…_

_Chapter 8: __Not Soundproof _

Riding with Axel was definitely something Sora had to get used to. The fact that Riku and Roxas were there as well only multiplied the unique excitement. The redhead tended to stamp on the gas and brake pedals a little too forcefully, causing several g-forces to pull and push the four of them constantly.

What amused Sora greatly before the ride, however, was Riku's strategy when it came to getting Axel to let him in the front instead of Roxas.

"Look, Ax," he had said, "When he's in the back, you can look into his eyes through rear-view mirror with less of a chance of killing us all.

Axel eventually bough it, learning through this experience that he could also reach his arm around to the backseat and stroke Roxas's calves. Sora broke out laughing every time he did this, loving Roxas's skittish reaction.

Eventually, the flaming nympho started blasting songs like _Hips Don't Lie, The Bad Touch_, and _Milkshake _almost as loud as he could, dancing to each song in a different way and singing each lyric flawlessly.

Riku, the entire drive, fed Axel directions (the reason why he wanted to be in front), but most of the time he just held his head in his hands, moaning in aggravation.

"Can't you turn the music down just a _little_?" Riku hollered through his hands.

"Do you _want _me to fall asleep at the wheel?" Axel hollered back unfortunately without his own hands over his mouth.

"Turn right here, Axel." Riku grumbled loudly, looking up from his hands. The reckless driver turned sharply into Sora's neighborhood and parked in front of the towering building of gingery pink as Riku directed.

"Is this it?" Axel asked, his voice drowned out by _The Bad Touch_'s chorus. Riku ignored him, kicking himself out of the black mustang as if his life depended on it. He opened Sora's doors quickly afterward, allowing the brunette to hop out. He dug his pinky into his right ear at an attempt to stop the ringing.

"Ah!" Riku cried in a panicky tone, causing Sora to start. The taller boy had reached for the handle of the passenger door, but he drew his hand back once the car began backing out of its space. Before he could cry out, Axel was already driving off.

For a moment, they just stood there, silent. Sora eventually managed to say, "What was that?"

"That was Axel," Riku said coolly, "Ditching us so he could go fuck Roxas."

Sora's eyes widened. "Does that mean you have no ride home?"

"Unless your brother is willing to drive me back to school…" Riku thought out loud, "Which I doubt…what time will he be home?"

"I dunno…six?"

Riku looked down at his watch hastily. "Two hours…" he announced, pulling his jacket back down to cover the time, "We have two hours…damn, they take me home at _five_!"

The stressed silverhead ran his hands through his hair slowly, pacing. He eventually pulled out his snow-white cell phone urgently, pressing a few keyes before bringing it to his ear.

"Pick up…pick up…" Riku told the ringing through his teeth. Sora could hear Axel's voice ask "hello?". Riku hung up immediately.

"Weren't you gonna tell him to come back and get you?" Sora asked.

"He didn't answer," Riku grumbled angrily, "That was his voicemail that's supposed to trick me into saying hello back to a recording. I knew it wasn't really him because there was no music in the background."

"Oh." Sora stated.

Riku sighed, sitting down on the pavement. "Well, I'll just sit here until someone decides to pick me up." Sora raised an eyebrow down at him, noticing how hot he himself was in his polo and short while Riku wore a jacket and pants.

"No, you're coming inside," Sora told him, stooping down to grasp his arm and pull him up, "I'm not letting you stay when it's this hot out."

"Fine…" Riku sighed, "You might as well call your brother, too, to tell him that I'll be here."

"Should you call your par--?"

"_No_," Riku said firmly. Sora gave him a strange look before he said, "If they knew I went somewhere without asking, and with _Axel_, of all people…"

"Do they not _like _Axel or something?" Sora asked, cocking his head to the side as he led Riku to the stairs by the arm.

"I've been _banned_ from Axel." Riku moaned.

"…'banned'?"

"Yeah…" the silverette mumbled, sounding defeated, "They said that he 'corrupted' me…I don't blame them for thinking that, but that wasn't the first time that happened. The moment I make a really good firned, they suspect that I'm gay and say I can't see them anymore because 'God' told them that they were 'corrupting' me and that I have to let them go."

He groaned, pulling his hand through his sweaty bangs. "It's going to _really _suck if they find out about _you_."

"Y-yeah…" Sora laughed nervously, "I hope I won't ever have to meet them."

Riku smirked and chortled through his nose at this remark, watching the small brunette as he fished for his key in his deep pockets in front of his apartment door. He eventually found it with a quiet, "Aha!" and shoved it into the lock and turned, pushing his body heavily into the often-sticky door. An unsticking noise but no open door rewarded him rather bluntly. He pushed again, this time the cool air of the apartment engulfing his body.

"Alright," Sora announced, holding the door open for Riku to come in as he waved a displaying hand, "C'mon in."

Riku entered the apartment rather meekly as Sora tried to suppress his laughter. Any hint of fear or coyness in the silverette was an odd sight, like seeing a valiant silver wolf cower in fear. The younger, brown wolf closed the door behind his superior as he was preoccupied with surveying the sad apartment.

"Ahhh!" Sora cried out, noticing the catastrophic mess of his home for the first time in days someone new was there to judge him, "I'm so sorry!" he cried nervously, immediately heading to the stacks of dirty dishes next to the sink, "My brother is a real slob – he never cleans up after himself."

"It's okay." Riku laughed, observing the apartment further with hands concealed in his pockets, wandering into the small living room. Sora watched him thoughtfully as he scrubbed the scummy dishes, raising an eyebrow once again at Riku's heavy clothing.

"Excuse me for asking, but…" he began, "Why do you always wear pants and a jacket, even if it's hot out? Sensitive skin or something?"

Riku blinked, "Well, I don't feel like tucking in my shirt or putting a belt on every day, so that's why I wear a jacket, but I wear pants instead of shorts because I'm allergic to grass."

"_Wuh-hut_!?" Sora laughed, accidentally dropping the dish he was holding under the warm running water. He never heard of anything like it! He himself never had any issues with allergies except for his tendency to vomit or get really violent stomach aches after consuming large amount of MSG, but _grass_? _Grass _was the Great Riku's weakness? "You've gotta be _kidding_ me!"

"I'm not," Riku simply said, shaking his head "no", "I'm highly allergic to grass. My eyes water really bad when I'm near it freshly cut."

"Geez…" Sora remarked, wrinkling his nose as he picked up the dish once again, "That must stink. Anything else you're allergic to?"

"Nuts," he replied, "but for some reason peanut butter doesn't bother me…and there're these shots that I have to get every month. I _think _they're for allergies but I dunno."

"Aww…" Sora moaned sympathetically, "I'm sorry."

"There's nothing to be sorry about…" Riku told Sora rather comfortingly as he let the palm of his hand glide over the corner of the hall leading to Leon's room, "These walls aren't sound-proof, are they?"

"I dunno," Sora answered indifferently, staking his last dish and turning the hot water off, "Why?"

Riku gave the brunette a direct smirk as if he was trying to tell the boy "why", but it didn't seem to work. Sora simply cocked his head to the side, confused. The silverette reached over and ruffled his chocolate spikes, cooing, "No reason." Sora blinked as the pale hand reclined and Riku headed down the hall, peering into a crimson red room. "Whose room is this?"

"That's Leon's," Sora chirped, walking around the counter to get to Riku's left, "My brother's."

"God, his walls are as red as Axel's hair."

"Yeah, he wanted to paint them over with white," Sora explained, observing the vibrant ruby color himself, "but it's such a deep red, a coat of white will make it a pale pink."

"Eheh…" Riku laughed in a stale matter, wrapping an arm around the smaller's shoulders, "I'd love to spend two hours at your house talking about the paint on the walls, but there are a _lot _of things I can do in the course of two hours that are _way _better than that."

"Like what?" the young boy asked, "I have a PlayStation. We could—"

"_No_, Sora…" Riku sighed, "Sometimes I wonder if there is _anything _in that little head of yours."

Before the smaller boy could protest, he was led by the shoulders into the crimson bedroom. Riku casually spun him around to face him and kissed him elegantly, softly, taking Sora by surprise. Although the feeling of having captured lips was heavenly, Sora brought his hands to Riku's chest, pushing against him so their lips could release from each other's grasp.

"Riku, I…" he began, moving his lips but not forming any coherent words.

"Hm?" Riku asked.

"I don't think we should do this."

A sad glint flickered in Riku's eyes, as if something had broken. Sora felt his heart cry at this sight, capturing his breath as he explained, "It's only been a few weeks and…well, I wasn't even aware that we had become _friends _yet!"

"Sora, please…" Riku whispered, passing his fingers over the brunette's soft cheeks, pushing a strand of cinnamon hair behind his left ear, "Don't do this. I love y—"

"But _why _do you love me?" Sora asked, scowling through glassy eyes. "Do you even know what love _is_?"

Riku opened his mouth as if he had a direct answer to this question, but closed it again. He shook his head. "Do _you_?"

Sora blinked. What _was _love? Was he old enough to even understand it? Was anyone? Leon told him when he was younger that it was "nature's way of tricking people into reproducing", but…it was _different _when both of them were guys!"

What love _was _was a totally different world to Sora, but he knew, in some way or another, he _did _love Riku back.

"I don't know," Sora began, shaking his head repetitively, "I don't know, Riku, I don't know what love is." Riku sighed, his hands trailing down from the brunette's cheeks to his sinewy neck, clasping his shoulders softly, "but I know it's there because every time I see you, o-or think about you, hear you…I can feel it. I dream about you, Riku! Even if I don't remember, I _talk _about you in my sleep! You're the first thing I think of when I wake up…and the last thing before I go to bed! Whenever you touch me, I feel it…at just the thought of you, I…I…" large tear drops began rolling down his face. He pulled a hand across his eyes and sniveled, "I can feel it…I-I can feel…_love_."

"Shh…" Riku cooed, pulling Sora into his chest after kissing him sweetly on the forehead, wiping a tear or two away, "I can feel it too."

Sora gasped between quivering sobs of breath, wrapping his fingers in Riku's jacket material on his chest. The sophomore's thin fingers combed through the chocolate spikes, soothing the soul the naïve freshman had somehow unceremoniously spilled out. After he was pecked again on the forehead, Sora pulled back and looked into sea-green eyes, just in time for Riku to say, "I can't tell you what love is, but I can tell you _how _I love you, Sora."

Sora sniffed before asking, "H-how?"

"I won't pour out my soul like you did just yet – I'm not exactly an open book," he smiled down at the red-cheeked boy who smiled back timidly, "but I _will_ tell you that you have something I don't. I'm someone who's lived a life of lies and cheats and illusions. You're someone who's a fuckin' _tree _of honesty, personality and _life_. All sixteen years of my life, I have never cared for anyone more than myself. I was heartless…until I met you. I don't know exactly why, but I would be willing to give up everything I have at the drop of a hat just for you. It's scary," he took a breath before saying, "but I'm not heartless anymore. _You_ are my heart."

There was a stunning silence.

"Riku…" Sora breathed, "Do you…do you really mean that?"

It took him a while, but the silverette eventually managed a nod.

"Riku, I…" Sora began, at a loss for words, "I don't know what to s—"

Riku's lips, forcing so hard onto Sora's that the small brunette fell backwards, muffled his words. He panicked, but was reassured once his back hit something soft. The bed. He was laying under Riku's body, which straddled him and held his wrists down on the bed covers. Sora would have screamed _something _if it wasn't for Riku's connected face. His screaming was most audible through his own nose. The rest of his screams were lost in Riku's mouth.

After a long, forceful battle between tongues, Riku finally broke off from Sora's lips, parting a thread of spin as he resurfaced. He panted heavily as he looked down at the terrified freshman. He ran his thumb over Sora's lips, blue eyes flashing in pain as he did so. His lips were bruised. Sora grasped Riku's wrist with his only free hand. "Riku…" he panted, "…_stop_."

But Riku _didn't _stop. It was as if he was a hungry animal that had finally found food. His hair tickled Sora's cheeks as he trailed down to his neck, biting and nipping at certain points. Sora moaned outwardly when he found his pulse, sucking at it vehemently.

"Riku…" Sora groaned, "…it hurts! _Stop_!"

Sora's desperate pleas seemed to keep the reckless animal going. He trailed even lower, unbuttoning the lonely two buttons of his polo. "Damn…" he muttered, "Why couldn't we be wearing oxfords today?"

"Please stop, Riku…" Sora pleaded, tears refilling his eyes, "_Please_…"

Riku blinked, looking into Sora's glossy eyes. He smiled warmly, pecking him on the cheek. "It's okay, Sora…" he whispered, "I won't hurt you. I promise."

"But…I'm not ready," Sora whimpered, tears streaming down the sides of his face, "I'm not ready for _any _of this!"

Riku gave him a somewhat human look, a look of realization. He loosened his grip on the younger teen's wrists as a ring filled the house. Sora sat up when it stopped abruptly, coming back in the same sense a second later, then disappearing again.

"Oh, the phone!" he cried out, wiping his eyes with his hands hurriedly as he bound up, crouched under Riku and ran down the hall, reaching the manila phone connected to the wall. He stopped the ringing immediately as he picked it up, asking into the receiver, "Hello?"

"Hello, Sora," a somehow familiar, airy voice asked, "Is Leon home?"

Riku walked into the living room mouthing to Sora, "Who is it?" Sora shrugged, no help at all.

"He's not home _yet_," he told the mystery woman.

"He isn't?" the woman sighed, "What time will he be home? If it isn't any time soon, I'm going to have to report child abuse."

"_Child abuse_?" Sora stammered, "How is that _child abuse_?"

Leaving someone under the age of eighteen home alone is against the law in Twilight Town."

"Uh…" Sora hesitated, heading toward the front door and opening it noisily, "Oh, there he is now! I'll give the phone to him."

He outstretched his phone arm to Riku, pressing the speaker button as he closed the door with his other hand. Riku looked at the phone, asking in a whispered hiss, "_Who is it_?" Sora shook his head and nudged the phone into the hand which hesitantly took it and held it to a pale ear.

"H-hello?"

There was a long silence on the other end, so long that Riku glanced at the front of the phone to see if the call had been dropped. When he brought it back to his ear, the woman asked through the speakerphone in disbelief, "…Riku?"

The teenager gasped in pure terror, his hand going limp and dropped the phone to the ground.

"What was that?" she asked after the phone hit the ground, "Is this Riku? _Riku_? Are you at school, Riku?"

There was a blaring silence as Riku stood there stock-still, staring down icily at the phone. It wasn't an icy anger either; Riku's temper was a fiery one, usually. His eyes denoted pure foreboding.

"Hello? Hellooooo?" the voice of Mrs. Fayth asked through the phone one final time, the static disintegrating once she at last hung up.

"Shit…" Riku whispered, gripping his head tightly, "_Shit_…"

Sora quickly scrambled for the phone, placing it back on the wall as he continued to study his distraught significant other. "Riku?" he asked, holding out a hand to place on his cheek. Riku slapped it away, slumping onto the couch.

Sora couldn't help but notice that there was more to this situation than there seemed. Mrs. Fayth recognized his own voice merely because she knew that she was calling his house, but…how would she recognize Riku's voice so easily? Riku rarely ever got in trouble with her as far as Sora knew, and he barely ever spoke in the first place.

"What's the matter, Riku?" Sora asked, sitting beside him and trying to catch a glimpse of his hidden face. He was reminded vaguely of the night Leon figured out about the two of them.

Riku took a breath into his hands, lifting his head up slowly. Sora flinched at the sight of his disheveled hair and haggard-looking eyes. "Sora…remember when I told you about my parents?"

Sora cocked his head to the side, wondering what his parents would have to do with any of this. He nodded.

"Well…" Riku gulped, "That was my mom."

Sora blinked. He would've asked "who was your mom?" but realized what he meant.

"Mrs. Fayth is…your mom?"

The silverette closed his eyes and nodded his head slowly.

Sora looked up to the ceiling in realization. So _that _was it. _That's _why he had to spend the afternoon in aftercare. _That's _why his glasses had been left in the principal's car. _That's _why everyone was afraid of the Great Riku. That was also probably why he knew his address.

"She's probably looking for me in the school right now…" Riku began, "and she'll soon realize that Roxas isn't there either. Tch, but she'll find Cloud. Cloud has probably been watching us the whole time and knows what we've been up to."

"What does Cloud have to do with anything?" Sora asked. Riku shook his head.

"Isn't it obvious? He's my other adoptive brother. Granted, he's older, but…doesn't he look identical to Roxas?"

"Now that you mention it…" Sora mused, "What about Axel? Will she look for him as well?"

"Axel leaves early anyway, but she'll probably ask Reno a few questions…" he replied, "The two are cousins."

Sora nodded in understanding.

"Jesus Christ…" Riku sighed, "It's going to be a crime scene over there…"


	9. Truths and Lies

Sorry for taking so long, guys

_Sorry for taking so long, guys. I lost my inspiration for whatever reason…I think it was because Riku was in Axel mode for a while, but I got my Riku back for at least a day so I remember who he is now. I SHOULD SHOW YOU ALL PICTURES FROM THE CONVENTION. I'll put links in my profile._

_Chapter 9:__ Truths and Lies_

Sora remained standing, his arms unusually crossed as he rocked on his heels in time with the ticking of the kitchen's wall clock. He eyed the manila phone on its receiver and captured an occasional glance at Riku, bent over on the couch with his face in his hands, the embodiment of deep thought.

They were stuck. _Doomed_. Riku had explained to him how his mother was a prick, how she would automatically assume that they had relations and how she was completely _against_ gay relationships.

Sora could practically feel Riku's brain working as he sat himself next to him, watching his slender fingers massage his temple. He pushed his fingertips down his face, opening his mouth to say something when the locks could be heard turning in the front door. Both Sora and Riku looked up eagerly, hearing the voice of Leon as the door opened and he asked, "Hello?" into his recently picked up cell phone.

Sora caught a glimpse of this opportunity and bounded in front of Leon as soon as he became parallel with the couch. Leon started, his eyes widened. The girl he had unexpectedly dragged into the apartment hid skittishly behind him, a fist up to her mouth. Leon nodded to the person on the other line, saying, "Mrs. Fayth? The principal? Yeah, this is Leon."

The brunette's head filled with lights as he jumped up and down and waved his arms to get the older brunette's attention. Leon merely gave him a weird look and ran his thumb over the speaker button on his cell phone.

"…to know if my son, Riku, was at your house."

It was Riku's turn to bound up with his head nodding vigorously.

"Y-yes," Leon replied, "He's here."

"I see," the voice of Mrs. Fayth answered, "Why and how?"

"He…came here so he could help Sora with his algebra homework. He needs tutoring."

Sora and Riku stared at the older boy in awe as Mrs. Fayth answered, "Mmhm?"

"And I drove him here after picking Sora up from school, but I forgot that I had to get some groceries, so I left to go get them really quick."

"Oh, I see." Mrs. Fayth answered thoughtfully, "Do you know anything about my other son, Roxas?"

"Roxas?" Leon asked, confused. He looked at the couple in front of him for support. Sora nodded vigorously, mouthing, "You picked him up too."

"I…picked him up, too,"

"May I speak with him?"

"Uuuuhh…"

Riku whispered feverishly, "You took him home when you went to get groceries!"

"I took him home when I went to get groceries!"

"You did?"

"I did. He gave me directions and everything. Good kid."

There was a long pause in which the three of them stood silently, wondering what they're last words would be before they were smitten by this woman's hands. The girl behind Leon poked her dark brunette head out, peering at the phone curiously at his ear.

"Why didn't you address me before picking up and dropping off my children?"

Leon lurched. "Well…" he eyed Riku. Riku shrugged. "I had assumed that they already told you."

"They didn't."

"I'm sorry, Ma'am, I didn't know."

Sora cringed pitifully. He _never_ heard his brother say call _anyone _"Ma'am".

The sickening calm voice of Mrs. Fayth sighed, purring, "At least I know where they are now. _Tell me_ before you take control of my children next time."

There was a definite _click _on her line and the call ended. Leon looked at the cell phone's screen blankly, flipping it closed as he mumbled, "God, what a bitch." He caught Riku's eye as he retracted his hand and held both of them up defensively, saying, "No offense to _you_, but jeez. Mind telling me what's happening Sora?"

"Ahhhh…" Sora held up a finger then let it droop as he thought of the situation they were in and how Leon would handle the reality of it. Riku quietly thumbed keys on his phone before bringing it to his ear and escaping into Leon's red room, closing the door firmly behind him.

"Well?" Leon asked, raising an eyebrow at the room the silverette escaped into.

"You see, Riku isn't allowed to drive," Sora began, "Because his mom, which you just got off the phone with, won't let him."

"Ah," Leon nodded, "So…_why _did he drive you home yesterday?"

"Because he was the only one I knew enough that _could _drive!" Sora cried.

"Okay…" Leon mused, leaning into the counter, "So how did you get here this time? Sit anywhere you like."

Sora tilted his head to the side, about to ask what he was talking about and about to sit when he felt a small breeze rise up as Leon's silent visitor took his recently emptied seat. He looked at the girl strangely before scratching his head and saying, "Riku's friend Axel drove me, but Riku and his brother Roxas came along as well."

"O…kay…" Leon replied, obviously mulling over this information in his head, "So Riku is still here _because_…?"

"He came out of the car to open the door for me and Axel drove off without a word."

"Jack ass…" Leon grumbled, "So he's stuck here?"

"Unless you can take him home, yes."

Leon sighed, looking up in his serious thought. "And this Roxas kid…is he really at his house, or what?"

"We have no clue. Axel drove off with him. My guess is that Riku is in the middle of calling him right now to tell him to take Roxas home when they're done with…whatever they're doing."

Leon spun around; turning his back on Sora as he thread his hand threw his hair. "How're we going to get him home, then?"

Sora paused, thinking about it only slightly before asking, "Can he…spend the night?"

His brother froze and Sora could see his eyes widen even though his back was turned to him. He spun around to leer at him almost comically. The girl sitting comfortably on the couch giggled softly. For the first time Sora gave her his undivided attention as she stated, "So it _is _true!"

Sora squinted at her as she twirled a dark lock through her fingers. "What's true?" he asked.

"That you and that boy are boyfriends."

There was a cold silence…and yet Sora could feel his blood boiling. There was a creak nearby in the hallway when he bellowed, "_What_!?" toward Leon and his fearful – yet incredibly amused – face.

"Uhhmm…I called Yuna," Riku told Sora, closing the door behind him with his eyes wide from the smaller's recent outburst, "She says I can spend the night. It'll save gas."

"Great!" Leon exclaimed, clapping his hands together and rubbing them together, "It's a double date then!"

"Will you _shut up_?" Sora growled at him. Leon and his "date" merely laughed at the boy's pitiful attempt at an angry face. Riku's hand came up to ruffle his hair.

"You're so cute when you're mad, Sora." The silverette hummed, kissing him softly at the top of his head.

Leon laughed at this action, quickly bringing a hand to his mouth to muffle the rude action.

"Ah, I have to introduce you!" Leon told the girl below him as he headed behind the couch and grasped her fragile shoulders. She smiled warmly up at him as he announced, "This is my new girlfriend, Rinoa. She's my manager."

"Your…_what_?" Sora blinked, shaking his head to make sure he heard him correctly.

"My manager? My _boss_?" Leon suggested to his younger brother as if he was an idiot.

"I let him get out of work early today so he could introduce me to your home…and you, of course." Rinoa remarked with a sweet smile. Sora couldn't help but smile back. "So are you two going out or what?"

"Uhhhhhmmm…well, y'see…" the brunette immediately brought a hand to the back of his head and broke all eye contact with everyone and made it instead with the carpet. He felt a warm hand gently pull his from the back of his head. The long, strangely snug fingers intertwined with his. The small boy looked up Riku for a facial response, but the older boy was looking at Rinoa rather than him.

"Yes," Riku told her, "We're going out. We just started today."

Rinoa's face seemed to light up in contrast to Leon's. Leon's face began to do the same thing it did when Riku told him his name, but he stopped himself and forced it back with a smile…and a laugh. A surprisingly calm laugh.

"So I was _right_!" he proclaimed, "I was right from the beginning! Granted, I didn't know who it was exactly until yesterday, but…I knew you loved someone the second you came into the car on Sunday. _God_, I'm smart!"

"Don't get too full of yourself…" Sora pouted, his face slowly turning redder and redder as he shrugged. Riku smirked and ruffled his spikes.

"So…you don't care?" Riku asked, addressing Leon.

"Don't care…about what?"

"About…_us_?"

Leon blinked and looked between the two of them, a look of deep thought engulfing his face. "No, I don't care. What is there to care about? You two love each other, right?"

It was Riku's turn to blink in disbelief, awe. "You don't care that we're…that we're both _guys_?"

"_No_, I don't care!" Leon laughed, "In fact, I've been wondering about Sora's sexuality for a long time." He skillfully brought a hand down to Sora's chin and turned the boy's face toward Riku despite his brother's squeal of protest. "Does this look like the face that could be the _man_ of a relationship?"

Riku couldn't help but chuckle, "I guess not."

Sora growled and pushed his brother's hand from his face, glowering at him.

"Yeah, he wouldn't get anywhere with a glare like _that_," Rinoa joked, laughing behind a small fist.

"Rikuuuuu…" Sora moaned, looking up at his significant other for support. Riku merely smiled and brought their joined hands up to his mouth to kiss Sora's part.

"I'm sorry, So," he apologized rather apathetically, "but it's just so adorable when you get all worked up."

"Hahhh…" Leon sighed, scratching the back of his head as he regarded the woman below him with a squinted eye, "Do you two want a tour of the place or did Sora already show you around, Riku?"

Riku shrugged and muttered indifferently, "Not really, no."

"Okay, then _I'll_ show you around!" Leon announced rather excitedly, grasping Rinoa's hand firmly and pulling her from her seat, "Follow me, everyone."

Sora and Riku exchanged puzzled looks before starting behind Leon and his new shadow, holding their breath as they packed into the hallway and into Leon's room.

"This is, of course, _my _room," the older brother announced proudly as Rinoa looked around in wonder and curiosity, wowing under her breath.

"I like the color!" the girl pointed out, "One of my favorite colors. Did you paint it?"

Leon hesitated before announcing, "Yes! Yes, I did…It's one of _my _favorite colors too."

Sora coughed something that sounded distinctly like, "_Liar_." Leon threw him a nasty glower before leading his date to an assortment of pictures on the wall.

"Oh God, Leon…" Sora moaned, putting a hand over his face, "Don't."

"Don't what?" Riku asked, walking him over to the pictures on the wall. He himself seemed very interested.

"_Don't_." Sora grumbled, attempting to pull himself away from Riku's grasp, but the silverette only grasped harder.

"What? Are you _embarrassed_, Sora?" Leon cooed in the mocking voice of a mother, "Don't worry so much, there's a picture of me as a kid here, too."

Sora didn't really care about the pictures of him when he was younger displayed on the wall. None of them were really that embarrassing. What he really _was _worried about was the picture of him and his best friend from middle school, Yuffie Kisaragi. The picture was at the center of them all, plain as day, displaying a slightly younger-looking Sora with a lively looking Yuffie of jet-black hair giving him a rough noogy. He was smiling in that picture.

"Who is that?" Riku asked, pointing at this exact picture.

"Oh, that's Sora's old girlfriend, Yuffie." Leon answered evilly.

"She was _not _my girlfriend, Stupid!" Sora growled, "She was my best friend! And for your information, she called me the other day to tell me she got a boyfriend."

"Oh?" Leon stated rather interestedly, "Who?"

"Vincent Valentine." The small brunette answered with dignity.

"_Vincent Valentine_?" Leon asked in complete disbelief, his eyes wide, "You gotta be _kidding _me! That little ball of emo with that little ball of…_energy_? Jesus Christ…"

"Awww, is that you, Leon?" Rinoa asked, pointing at a picture in the top left corner. Leon blinked back into a somewhat sad reality, letting the picture sink in. It was a picture of a woman, obviously very pregnant, holding the hand of a boy around the age of seven or eight. Leon watched the picture nostalgically, particularly his bare forehead in it. He traced his fingers over the deep scar that trailed downwards between his eyes on his own face and nodded slowly.

"Yeah…yeah, that's me."

"And the woman…that's your mom pregnant with Sora, right?" she poked her finger towards the woman, a beautiful one of the same brunette hair as Sora and Leon, but curly and bound up in a rather loose bun. Her eyes were an icy gray-blue, like Leon's, as she smiled simply and slightly at the camera lens.

"Yeah…that's her."

Sora bit his lip. Leon didn't like to talk about their mom. Neither did he, for that matter. He felt a slight squeeze in his right hand and looked up at Riku. Riku nodded toward Leon, who was holding his head rather forlornly.

"Leon?" Rinoa asked.

"Don't ask anymore questions about her," Leon told her rather bluntly, letting go of her hand without any eye contact. He spun around and left the room. "Ask Sora instead."

"Leon, I…"

The door slammed. Rinoa frowned and looked to Sora.

"Don't worry, he'll get over it," Sora told her comfortingly, "He just doesn't like to talk about Mom. Don't ask why he still keeps this picture out."

"Did she…_die_ or something?" Riku asked rather bluntly, but still carefully.

Sora sighed. "Pretty much. You could call it that. It would've been better if she died, actually…"

"What happened?" Rinoa asked.

"I did." Sora muttered, looking somewhere near his feet.

There was an understanding silence, allowing Sora to muster up the courage to tell them. He took a few deep breaths before saying, "She was already poor as it was. Our father disappeared soon after she became pregnant with Leon. She grinned and bore it, but…well, then she got drunk one night at a party and came home with me inside her."

"I'm sorry," Rinoa said comfortingly, putting a hand to his shoulder.

"No, no, it's okay. I'm over it," Sora told her, "But she handled it considerably well until she actually had me. She then had two children to pay for, so she started drinking…"

"That doesn't make sense," Riku grumbled, "That's just more things to pay for."

"Exactly!" Sora cried, "And that was the _main _reason she didn't have any money, but she blamed it on us! Sure, she needed _alcohol_, but she didn't need us. She didn't need us _at all._"

The small brunette hunched his shoulders as he looked down, feeling all the memories hit him like bullets. He shook his head, trying to shake the tears away more than anything.

"When Leon moved out, he worked himself to death trying to raise enough money to move somewhere else…to take me from her house, so that's why I'm living here now," he glanced around the room quickly with glossy eyes, "We're hoping she won't find us. I wouldn't be surprised if she didn't notice I even left."

Riku put a svelte finger under Sora's delicate chin and forced the brunette to face him with bubbling eyes. He brought his head down low to peck him softly with his warm, comforting lips.


	10. Consensual?

Nyehhh…sorry for the wait again, everyone

Nyehhh…sorry for the wait again everyone. A lot of serious stuff has been going on…Let's just say that there's definitely going to be a sequel to this story. WOO.

Just so everyone knows, not a lot of this is true ..but I guess the feel of it is true, just not nearly as intense.

And sorry it's so short. I couldn't make it any longer.

Chapter 10: Consensual?

A faceless Leon hiding behind a head of tangled brown hair had half-heartedly sent them to Sora's room where they sat on the floor, their backs against the side of the bed. Sora was looking up to the ceiling, letting the tears easily fall from his pools. He wasn't necessarily sobbing anymore. Just letting his sorrowful essence spill.

"Where'd he get that scar?" Riku asked, focusing on a blue stress ball he held in his hands from the nightstand rather than Sora.

Sora sniffed once and looked further up to the ceiling. "I'm…not really sure. He told me that Mom hit him one day when he came crying into my room. I was only three or something…I remember hearing glass breaking and blood running down his face. He wiped it up himself and never went to the hospital, although he really should have…you know, for stitches."

"Yeah, honestly…" Riku shrugged, "Why didn't he go to the hospital?"

"He was afraid Mom would kill him if he tried," Sora answered, "We were afraid to get any kind of help because we were afraid she would find out and punish us."

Riku momentarily stopped fiddling with the ball in his hand and watched it for a moment, placing it back onto the nightstand precisely and saying, "I know the feeling."

Sora nodded, wiping his eyes with a bare arm and turning toward the silverette. "Were your real parents like that or something?"

"Yuna's like that…but in the sober way."

"Sober…?"

There was a silence before Riku put a hand to his head and sighed. "Look. She controls every aspect of our lives and she knows it. Your mother's mind was clouded by alcohol and economic stress. Yuna is blinded by power."

Tear streaks stained Sora's cheeks, but slowly dried as he tried to get a glimpse of Riku's expression behind his hand.

"Do you want to know," Riku began, "how much pain I've gone through the last sixteen years of my life?"

Sora hesitated. His voice sounded hurt, haunted…possessed. He nodded slowly with a barely audible squeak.

Riku sighed, bringing his hand out of his field of vision and turning toward Sora. "I'm sorry to say, but there's only one real way you can feel the full power of what I've gone through without me hurting you that bad, Sora."

"Huh--?" the brunette began before hands collided once again with his shoulders, pushing him to the carpeted floor.

"Riku! What're you--!?" his voice was halted by a gripping hand on his cheeks, his mouth open but unable to close and form words.

"I'm sorry Sora, but I want to do this. I need to do this."

It wasn't long before the smaller boy noticed that Riku was straddling his chest of all things, sitting over him like a towering animal as he reached for his own button and zipper on his pants. Sora uttered a small cry, meeting a forceful hand muffling his words.

"First things first," the silverette began, "From what that bitch has done to me, I'm sadistic to the point where I can't control it. The sight of pure pain in the face of a human makes my insides squirm."

Sora's pupils narrowed. He didn't think anyone could be that heartless, so much that they enjoyed other people's pain, plus the thought of having a penis in his mouth made him gag under Riku's rough hand.

"I've only had one feeling all my life, Sora, and that was hatred. I hated Yuna with every fiber of my being ever since I can remember."

He worked skillfully with his free hand at his button and zipper, moving his hand into his exposed fabric of the boxers.

"I've never known anyone more hypocritical, anyone who exaggerates things more, anyone who needs everything perfect so much to the fact that you'd think she believe that she herself was God."

Sora's eyes widened as Riku pulled the material of his boxers behind his member, displaying its enormity to Sora. It hung dangerously above Riku's hand closed over the brunette's mouth as said brunette tried to scream anything…anything at all, but it couldn't be heard through the strong fingers of the silverette.

"She would threaten me with 'God' for doing the stupidest of things," he went on, "like growing my hair out – she said I was going to hell because only girls can have long hair. Yeah, like the Bible really says anything about that."

In one quick motion, he removed his hand from Sora's mouth, allowing Sora a substantial volume of yelling only for a second before his mouth was easily gagged by the head of Riku's cock.

He couldn't pull away. His head was already on the ground and he foolishly pulled forward at an attempt to escape, but the cock only went deeper into his throat, causing him to whimper and slam his head to the ground. Tears of a strange sort of anger toward Riku rolled down the sides of his face as he let his head hit the carpet resignedly.

Riku shook his head as he brought a hand down to caress the side of Sora's cheek, picking up the tear's trail.

"Every night, Sora…" he continued, pulling his hips up only slightly. Sora in that half second made a lame attempt to get away but got an extra forceful thrust at the back of his throat. He could've sworn he felt some blood vessels bust, causing him to swallow painfully.

"Every night, Sora…" Riku growled through gritted teeth, "She makes us kiss her on the lips…Tidus too, of course, and if we don't, we're told we need therapy –"

In a quick movement he brought his hips up and thrust even harder into the back of Sora's tender throat, parting the skin just a bit. The small boy screamed into the member, but Riku seemed to pay no heed.

"—or that we're worthless children who have no respect toward their parents—"

He could feel the corners of his mouth stretch, begin to tear.

"—or simply beat us until they think we 'get the picture'."

Sora closed his eyes, the pain unbearable. He pulled his arms up and nearly wrapped his fingers around the cock before Riku quickly grasped his wrists and slammed them to the carpet.

"I'm not finished, Sora…" Riku gasped, sounding as if this act hurt him as much as it hurt Sora…probably even more. "You have no idea how hard it is to not be allowed to grow, rebel, test boundaries…it makes you into the stunted heap I am today, the monster that I am…"

As he said this, his length slowly trailed deeper and deeper down into Sora's throat, twisting down leisurely and softly almost. Sora swallowed a few times to try and make some sort of room for it, but that only made its passage faster.

"She wouldn't let me grow, Sora. She wanted to shape me into her own figure. She wouldn't have any self-expression from me that she didn't approve of. I've always had to agree with everything she said. If she told me my eyes were brown, I'd have to agree. Otherwise I would be a liar and would be punished."

It kept sinking deeper and deeper. Sora began to find it harder to breathe through his nose as it passed down. He began to panic, struggling to break free of Riku's vice grip, but the silverette only held on tighter as Sora's blue orbs continued to send rivers down his cheeks and he swore he felt a bit of liquid secrete from Riku's member and gently drip inside his throat.

"You know how I feel then?" Riku asked, pulling up only slightly, "Well, how to you feel now, So? Suffocated?"

Sora made a lame attempt at a nod, blinking tears from his eyes as the member went back down into his throat even deeper, causing him to let out a strangled yell as best he could, his eyes widened.

"This is what it feels like…" Riku went on, "To be forced to never grow, to never learn…to never be allowed to freely speak your mind."

And Sora definitely felt it. It felt like drowning. He couldn't breathe! He couldn't breathe at all no matter how hard he tried. His world began to spin with Riku above him with the hint of a tear. Sad teal eyes…a face that suggested he had to do this even though he didn't want to. The world darkened…senses numbed…the air rang icily as his eyes rolled back into his head slowly…

In an instant, Riku pulled himself out of Sora's mouth the moment before he completely fainted, a long web of spit trailing from his mouth as he gasped for air…air. It was clean and refreshing, although it stung as his breaths pulled over the small rips in his throat.

All Sora could hear was his own, pounding blood in his ears, his own breathing as the world slowly faded back into realization. A zipper could be heard zipping up after the spit's trail was broken and masked over the brunette's chin. In no time at all, a comforting hand was brought to said chin, wiping up the drool.

Sora slowly opened his eyes to see Riku's face, a face that was more broken than his. It was somehow beautifully unique to see such worried love in his eyes, though, causing Sora to smile only slightly.

"I'm sorry, Sora…" Riku whispered softly, "I'm so sorry…you're my heart though, Sora…you have to know the pain I suffer…"

He uttered a small, haggard laugh.

"I suppose now that you know what a monster I am, you don't want to be with me anymore…"

Sora blinked. He pulled up an arm shakily, wrapping it around Riku's neck before seeing his lover's teal eyes widen in surprise themselves. He pulled the silverette's head down, closing the gap between Riku's cheek and his own lips.

"Heh…" Riku laughed, turning his lips toward Sora's and murmuring against them, "You missed."

The brunette smiled warmly before leaning up slightly to lock his wet lips with his.


	11. Still His

OKAY GUYS. Obviously the last chapter left you guys really puzzled. WHY would Sora stay with someone who just mouthraped him? Isn't that a little…masochistic of him? Well…I'd explain right here, but I guess I'll make the characters explain in their own little way. I GOT SOME 'SPLAININ' TO DO HUR.

Also, really sorry for the delay. Like I said, there's definitely gonna be a sequel to this story due to what's been going on in real life…yeah.

And I am SO sorry for making Yuna so OOC. In all honesty, I LOVE Yuna. I hate her in this story. I also hate the one she's based off of. Yes, Riku's mom in this story is based off a real person. Sadly…

"_Haah_!"

The feeling of a dampened hot rag on the corners of his mouth stung to a degree as Riku dabbed at the area lightly, picking up small spots of blood as he did so and holding Sora's cheek steady with his opposite hand.

"I'm really, _really_ sorry So…" Riku groaned sadly, "I should've explained it with just words, but—"

"You've apologized over a million times, Riku," Sora drew out in a worn voice that crackled like a seasoned record player, "and I _understand _already. You wanted to show me what your life was like, or just give me a glimpse of it. If I want to love you, I have to learn to tolerate the dark side of you…and that's what you just showed me…"

Riku stared at the surprisingly understanding brunette in small disbelief. He wasn't sure that his message had gotten through that easily. He discontinued poking at the corners of Sora's mouth momentarily to watch and listen intently.

"Granted, I really didn't like it that much…" the smaller continued with a fleck of laughter lacing through his words, somewhat _hurt _laughter, "but…you don't like it either. Your darkness is something you hate, and hate is something we should share along with love."

Riku's warm, reviving smile played on his lips and his eyes glowed with a certain beautiful incandescence. "That's a confusing way to word it, but you definitely got the picture…more than _I _even get it, probably."

The truth was, Sora was a physical person. He had always _been _a physical person. If something wasn't tangible, something he could touch, he couldn't fully understand it. Words were nothing to him and failed to explain. He had difficulty putting himself in other people's shoes unless someone helped him put them on, and Riku saw that. He understood it and knew that Sora had to know about his life somehow, so he took his shoes and fit them onto Sora's feet himself in his harsh but meaningful act.

There would come a time, if Sora planned to endure their newly found love, where Sora would have to face the cock herself. Of course, he didn't know of it, but Riku foresaw it and took it into his own responsibility to give him a taste of Satan's competitor.

"She's gonna be mad, isn't she?"

Riku's attention flicked from his own thoughts and back to Sora as he pulled the socks from his feet and precariously tossed them into the hamper. The sun was nearly down, dying the sky a burnt orange consumed by a dirty blue which shown through the cracked glass of Sora's window.

"She's already mad…" Riku groaned weakly, the fear trembling only slightly in his voice, "but I'm used to this kind of stuff, So…don't worry about it."

There was a numb silence in which even the incessant movements of the younger boy ceased. Riku peered over his shoulder to see his head hanging in defeat before he shoved his dresser drawer in and mumbled, "I'm sorry."

"Now what are _you_ sorry for?" Riku asked, his hands shoving deeper into his pockets as he received the impulse to reach out and kiss the boy softly.

"For…I dunno. Asking you for a ride home?"

"I was the only one you knew. It isn't your fault."

"Then…I'm just sorry, okay?"

There was the hint of annoyance in Sora's voice as he spun around, a navy blue nightshirt in his arms and a small scowl adorning his face. Reading the fractured heart in Riku's eyes, he softened his expression and looked down in shame.

And thanked God Leon was there to break the silence, opening the door to peer in.

"You can sleep on the couch, Riku," he said rather sleepily, wearing a pair of glasses that he always wore before heading off to bed, "Rinoa set out a blanket and pillow for you."

"Thank you…" Riku mumbled in a weak voice with a small nod, heading towards\ the opening of the door as Leon moved aside. Sora gasped.

"B-but…_hey_!" he cried, "Why can't he just sleep in my bed? We won't—"

"Honestly, Sora, you think I would let you sleep in the same bed as your boyfriend?"

Riku looked back at Sora, giving him a small look that only Sora would understand…one that said, "I'm sorry, but we can't fix something like this…although it would be nice if we could" all in one frown and one slight upturn of the eyebrows.

"We won't do anything!" Sora whined pathetically, causing Riku's expression to might as well have a palm colliding with it. Leon's face could've been taken the same exact way.

"'You won't do anything?' Give me a _break_, Sora. If you spend the night in the same bed as your boyfriend, you're going to do _something_."

Sora pouted, scowling at the floor as Leon and Riku exchanged sighs, both exuded for their own personal reasons.

"Fine…" the moody brunette mumbled.

Once his brother and the cool silverette "graced" the room with their absence, Sora found his bed, defeated, and crawled under the always crumpled blankets without even bothering to change into his nightshirt. He fell into a rather huffy, troubled night of sleep.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Riku!"

Roxas bounded up from his backpack he was leaning on that was against the wall and greeted his brother, wearing a concerned look upon his face.

"What're the damages?" Riku asked almost methodically, his eyes not even meeting those of his brother.

"Oh God, I thought Cloud and I were gonna die for serious last night…" the blonde began, exasperated, "At first she was yelling and screaming about you and, well—" he nodded toward Sora, who started at the sudden attention – "your brother and basically how she didn't have power in the situation. You know her – if she doesn't have power, she goes nuts—"

"Quiet Ro…" Riku hissed, "Don't forget she has ears…everywhere…"

"Okay, okay…" Roxas continued in a hushed whisper, "but you know how she'll scream like crazy and two seconds later be quiet and nice? Yeah, she did that."

"Thaaaat's…" the silverette grumbled, pulling his fingers through his hair dramatically, "not a good sign…"

"Yeah, it's not. So just warning you…get ready for an attack if she says your hair looks nice today, because it doesn't. It looks like _shit_."

"I forgot to set my alarm clock…" Sora remarked with a guilty scratch of the back of his head, "He didn't have time to fix it."

"Yeah well…it looks like _shit_, and you know your throat is hers once she compliments you on something that's nothing to be com—"

The urgently whispering blonde broke off into silence as the turning of a doorknob settled between the two talking parties caught him, Yuna obviously coming out with a smile that easily suggested her smug, hedonistic intentions were to be fulfilled.

"Riku!" she cried in exaggerated surprise, "Your hair looks _wonderful _today! Come with me, I need to talk to you in my office."

Riku's look of amazing despair seized Sora's eyes with an immediate pang of guilt. Roxas patted his brother clandestinely on the shoulder to reassure him.

As his secret love walked off, all Sora could think of was Riku's member pushing down his throat. He could see Yuna as her back faced him and faded around the corner already choking the silverette with her mere aura. Sora felt the need to lunge forward, but instead pent up the anger in his burning fists.

"She heard us…" he snarled through his teeth.

"She didn't…" Roxas replied shaking his head, "If she did, she'd acknowledge it immediately, not address it with a sarcastic remark like that. Trust me, we have to give our dues to the 'sarcasm jar' on a regular basis just because she's not good at come backs."

Sora squinted his eyes toward the corner in which they wrapped around and uttered coldly, "I hate her…"

Roxas shrugged, stooping down to shoulder his pack. "Whoever doesn't needs some serious help."

"Hi, Sora!"

They both spun around to catch sight of the source of the grating, high voice. Kairi stood like a frightful apparition in front of Sora, her plastic smile reflecting that of Mrs. Fayth's. Sora felt the corners of his mouth cringe into a smile.

"Hey, uh…Kairi."

He meant to carefully place his tone on his words, but flopped. The way he pronounced her name suggested that he was reciting the name of a hideous disease that took over his body at the mere mention of it. A slight frown suggested that she heard the inflection, but she quickly recovered.

"Where's Riku?" she asked, hiding her spite with a laugh.

"…why?" Sora tried to sound actually curious. The effect of these words seemed to twist Kairi's face dramatically.

"If you don't want to tell me, just say so!"

"Okay…" Sora mumbled, "I don't want to tell you."

Her expression was aghast. She looked as if she was going to slap the brunette across the face with a trembling palm at any waking moment, but she stamped off with naught but a sound of honest deceit.

"Woooow…" Roxas laughed, "The only reason she did that is because she knows she can't have Riku anymore and now Rai's after her…"

"_Rai_?"

"Yeahhh…Kairi thinks it's mandatory to have some kind of 'boyfriend' now that she's in high school…no, scratch that. She's thought that practically since sixth grade."

"Yeah, but…why won't she go out with Rai?"

Roxas laughed, rolling his eyes. "Are you _kidding _me? He's a total dork!"

Sora shrugged, nodding and looking toward the spot where the silverette disappeared. "I hope Riku'll be all right."

"He can take it. He's been handling her longer than I have."

Then again, all Sora could think of was the night before. He couldn't help but feel the same kind of tears come to his eyes at the thought of Riku's asphyxiation…but he held them back with small force.

"Hey, that girl over there in the pavilion's trying to get your attention…" Roxas mumbled, squinting off into the not-so-far distance, "She's a friend of yours, isn't she?"

Sora picked his head up and observed the crowds of people huddled under the pavilion's burnt-orange roof. Among the several standing students, there was one dainty girl seated at an isolated table looking toward the two of them, under a flowing fountain of pale moon hair.

Namine.

As soon as she noticed that both Roxas and Sora had all of her attention, she quickly looked down at her drawing pad as if embarrassed.

"It's Namine…" Sora told him, "She's really nice…and I _guess_ you could call her a friend."

"Let's got sit with her then…she's all alone."

Sora nodded and they both brought up their bags and walked across the grass toward the lunch pavilion.

"Where's Axel today anyway?" Sora asked the blonde, "Don't you usually hang out with him?"

"He's '_sick_'," Roxas grumbled, "He's just skipping because he's sick of the shit he deals with here…"

Sora would've asked "what 'shit'?" but they had already reached the milky-skinned girl. She cooed slightly to acknowledge their close presence.

"How're you, Namine?" Sora asked comfortingly, mostly to sooth himself as he took a seat next to her. She quickly mashed her hands over her canvas.

"I'm good…" she replied rather coyly, pushing the pad into her bag. Sora thought he spied a blue-eyed, blonde-haired masterpiece in between her fingers as she stowed the drawing away. He looked up at the real thing now sitting across from him – Roxas. His face held a look of pure shock. Apparently he saw it too.

"So, uh…" Roxas began awkwardly, scratching the back of his chaotic spikes and staring at everything but Namine around him, "I guess I'll just leave you two in private—"

"No, please…you can stay."

Roxas was already standing, but he looked down at the girl in disbelief. She might as well have just cried out desperately with torrents of tears running down her cheeks for him to stay or she would slit her wrists and just die there bleeding her heart out. The cracked, pitiful tone of her voice was unbearable in that way. It suggested the sad pleading of a dying puppy.

Although Roxas began to noticeably quake with the virtually visible thought of "Axel is definitely going to kill me", he forcibly retook his seat next to her. She smiled, a soft tinkle-me-pink blush forming in her cheeks as she shrugged her shoulders and a small smirk sung sweetly on her lips.

Sora laughed uncomfortably, hoping the laugh would come across to Namine as the "I'm-happy-I'm-sitting-here-with-my-friends" laugh as opposed to what he was trying to shift toward Roxas – the "holy-crap-Ro-you-better-get-out-of-here-now" laugh.

"How much time until class starts?" Roxas jumbled out suddenly, looking as if a fire just exploded in his ass. He caught Sora's pitch.

"About…ten minutes?" Namine sweetly replied, looking up with her eyes squinted and head cocked slightly. She didn't see the ball thrown.

"Oh God, Larxene wanted to see me before class, I just remembered!" the bustling blonde made up on the spot, hitching up his bag, "I have to…make up something or something I dunno, see ya!"

Namine barely had time to extend the fingers of her right hand upwards in a gesture to say goodbye when Roxas was already trudging across the grass in a terrible hurry. She continued to stare toward him even after Miss. Nymph's door closed behind him.

"You know he's taken, right?"

Sora dared to break the silence with this shocking question.

"Excuse me?" Namine asked, turning around and coming back to Earth.

"Roxas. You have a crush on him but he's already taken."

Namine instantly became flustered, her face turning a deep red in contrast to her cascading waterfalls of milky starlight. "N-not really…well, maybe a _little _but…"

"Don't kid yourself, Nami – you're madly in love with him."

Both Sora and Namine jumped at the gruff grunt of a voice…vaguely familiar, but Sora had to see the haggard face of Axel floating above him to believe it. There were obvious bags under his weary eyes and his back was slightly hunched out of fatigue and resignation to gravity. Nevertheless, his exhaustion didn't subdue his terrible malice toward the fragile soul of Namine Snow. She hesitated at his deathly sight.

"Make another move on him, and your ass is mine," he snarled, "And I _don't_ mean the way Roxy's is already mine…stupid bitch…"

He murmured his final insult, trundling off lazily in the direction of Mrs Nymph's room.

"…is he okay? What was he talking about?" Namine asked, concern lacing her hushed whispers.

"I don't know if he's okay, and he was saying that Roxas was his." Sora shrugged, looking off to the staggering firecracker worriedly.

"'_His_'?" Namine laughed half-heartedly, "Are they somehow related or…?"

"Axel's Roxas's boyfriend, Nami."

Namine half-gasped, half silenced herself. Completely. The light left her eyes and Sora felt he did something wrong – _terribly _wrong. He was violently torn from the situation by Mr. Rose's call for his Spanish I students however and escaped into the church, guilt weighing heavily on his heart.


	12. Roses to Tears

So yes, there be a lot of pressure building up here a lot of you have pointed out. It's true. After writing this chapter, I felt really sad and I really wanted to see Namine – the one this Namine is based off of anyway.

_Chapter 12__: Roses to Tears _

Spanish class didn't even faze Sora as the hour flew by in a whirlwind of confusing, festive syllables that seemed to mock him with their inability to sound dreary. It killed him when Namine sat right next to him like she usually did. Her thoughts were audible…no, _visible_ too. Sora could even _smell _the stench of her sorrowed considerations as she sloppily (as opposed to her usual neatly) took her notes and ducked her head, hunching her shoulders and trying to hide small trickles of tears.

Near the end of class, Sora could've murdered his head with the table in front of him. How could he be so thoughtless? He felt _horrible_…

By the time Mr. Rose sternly told the class they were dismissed, Namine gave one small sniff, closing her eyes and shaking her head, as if finally understanding. She slowly took up her belongings and assorted them neatly in her bag, her breathing steadying.

"Nami…" Sora said, placing a soothing arm around her shoulders, "I'm so sorry…I should've thought before I said anything, I…"

"It's not your fault, Sora…I'm over it…" she dismissed all thoughts of Roxas and Axel with a timid smile toward the taller brunette, pulling his neck into a fragile embrace. "I'll see you in English."

"Yeah…" Sora nodded, holding the door open for her. She bumped into someone, giving off a small "sorry" before Sora's eyes met those of the boy she bumped into.

"Riku!" he cheered happily, unable to control himself as he leapt forward and hugged around the silverette's chest.

"Hey, So…" he answered, giving the smaller an inconspicuous peck on the forehead, "It wasn't too bad. She's just taking my computer away for a week. It's stupid and it won't accomplish anything on her part, but yeah…Hurry up and get to Health, you're gonna be late."

Sora looked up at Riku questioningly and let go, trundling off to Health.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Sora, would you mind taking these to Mr. Rose before you go to third period?"

Sora held out his hand to relieve Miss. Gainsborough of her manila envelope, nodding and heading out the door.

"Oh, and just tell Mr. Cloner that you were doing an errand for me. He'll understand."

Sora nodded again, not forgetting to give his favorite teacher a warm smile before exiting and heading toward the church where an abundance of sophomores were quickly filing out.

Riku gave the brunette a quick ruffle of the hair as he passed by, causing him to giggle playfully without realizing it, until he contracted several strange stares from bundles of other sophomores. He frowned and continued down the sidewalk to the door to the church, pushing a hand forward to stop the door from closing when –

"I said get _off _of me, you fuckin' rapist!"

Sora recognized that voice anywhere, but he'd never heard it in such distress. It was Axel for certain…but whom on Earth could he be talking with?

"You cheated on the test today," came an eerie, almost emotionless voice, "You have something in your pants –"

"I _know_! _Don't fucking touch it_!"

Sora's breath became shallow as he tried his hardest to peer into the room through the small crack he made in the door. He didn't want to open it anymore – the door was squeaky. All the windows had their curtains drawn, too…they were _never _drawn…and whoever was causing Axel to cry out like that…was that…_Mr. Rose_?

There were very loud and sudden movements and Sora caught a glimpse of the redhead on the floor backing up the stairs that led to the small stage bearing all the instruments used for church services. Sure enough, the tall, brooding figure of Mr. Rose stood ominously above him, pink hair aflame. He bent over, obviously putting a hand down to cup at something that was "in his pants". Axel punched the hand away.

"You're fuckin' _psychotic_!" Axel snarled, "Why the hell would I hide test answers _in my pants_!?"

Mr. Rose answered with an angry silence, getting down on his knees and pushing Axel's shoulder's forcefully against the stairs.

"I've had _enough _of your behavior, Fox. You _will _submit to me, or else you're in for a whole world of —"

Sora forcefully pushed the door open, sending an annoying screech resonating through the entire church. Rose was off Axel in an insane bound of amazing flexibility, looking to me as professionally as he could. Sora temporarily met Axel's eyes, the malachite eyes wide with fear as he asked silently with only his lips, "Did you see it?"

Sora nodded quickly, urgently.

Oh fuck, was that a bad idea.

Mr. Rose recognized the silent communication immediately and was on Sora faster that the small brunette could scream "rape". His mouth was muffled by his rough hand, his thighs pinned by Rose's knees. He was so _heavy_, and his voice sounded so incredibly sultry and ragged as it wafted past Sora's ear, purring, "One word, Sora Hart…if you utter _one word _of this…your ass is mine."

Sora was panicking more than ever as the Spanish teacher grinned down at him, his closed lip smile wider than anything he had ever seen. The grin, however, was interrupted when long fingers wrapped around the owner's throat and Mr. Rose gagged, quickly getting off Sora and flailing his arms, searching blindly for any part of Axel Fox he could grab. The frightened brunette sat up, his eyes wide with fear as he watched Axel choke his thrashing and retching teacher.

"Get help!' Axel cried, grunting as he tried to get control of Mr. Rose, "Go get Mr. Tenshi! _Hurry_!"

Sora nodded and dashed past them toward the opposite door he came in through, hurrying toward the office at the front of the school's building. He pushed through the glass door, heaving breaths and catching several interested looks from the workers in the office.

"Mr. Tenshi…" he panted, holding his knees to regain his breath, "Need help…Mr. Rose attacked…Axel…"

The teal-eyed man sitting at his desk looked up urgently, scooting his chair back and hurrying out the door with Sora in the wake of his rippling silver ocean of hair.

When they arrived at the scene, Mr. Rose was on the floor, completely unconscious and Axel was on his hands and knees, heaving for some sort of clean breath of air.

"What the _hell's_ going on here?" Mr. Tenshi asked, eyeing Axel and then Sora, waiting for a sufficient answer.

The two teenager's waited a while for their breath to return when Axel finally answered, "Mr. Rose asked for me to stay after class…he claimed I was cheating because he saw something 'in my pants'…" Sora couldn't help but smirk only slightly as Axel rolled his eyes and huffed, "So then he started feeling me up to see if I had anything down there and he practically…_raped _me. He pinned me against the stairs and everything and almost kissed me. If it weren't for Sora here, he would've…taken me…"

The dark angel crossed his arms, analyzing the situation. After a moment's thought, he turned to Sora. "So what's your side of the story?"

Sora blinked, "I just…saw all that pretty much from the door…then I opened it to stop Mr. Rose. Axel asked me if I saw all of it but y'know…without actually saying anything, just moving his lips and I nodded and then Mr. Rose pinned _me _to the ground and said…said something like 'you're mine' and then Axel – got him off of me."

"How?" Mr. Tenshi asked, looking down at the unconscious Mr. Rose.

"I started choking him," Axel chimed in, cringing under the counselor's steady glare, "It was self-defense!"

"And Mr. Hart, why were you eavesdropping in the first place?"

It was Sora's time to cringe under the interrogatory glare. He shuffled the manila envelope still miraculously in his hands and handed it over to him. "Miss Gainsborough asked if I would deliver this to him…but I saw that happening, so I…"

"_Thank you_, Mr. Hart." Mr. Tenshi interrupted, taking the envelope off his hands, "Now are either of you physically hurt?"

"I'm not." Axel chirped almost cheerily as Sora gave himself a quick survey, answering, "Me neither."

"Good, good…" Mr. Tenshi nodded, fingering the envelope in his hands as he eyed Mr. Rose's motionless figure, "You two can return to class then. I'll take care of the rest of this. Try to keep this situation as quiet as possible – I don't want ridiculous rumors spreading around.

Sora and Axel nodded and headed back to Science class in silence. Almost as soon as they arrived, the flamboyant redhead broke his vow with Mr. Tenshi and shared the story with the entire class. Surprisingly, Mr. Cloner listened intently as well, even asking a few questions. He seemed concerned for Mr. Rose's health.

"So what're they going to do about this, Axel?" the scientist asked curiously, "Do you know?"

"Neh, not really," Axel answered, propping his feet up on his desk and leaning his chair back importantly, "But I'm pretty sure his ass is fired."

Axel was rewarded a referral for his colorful answer. Mr. Rose was rewarded expulsion from Twilight High the next day.

And since the faculty of Twiligh High was too lazy to look for another person to teach Spanish, first period for the freshmen and second period for the sophomores easily became Study Hall with Mr. Fayth.

…Needless to say, the winds were changing for not just Sora, but _everyone_ in Twilight High.

But it all happened so _fast_.

And although Sora thought the issue of Namine was out of the way, she seemed to sprout up again only two days after the unusual and frightening incident with Mr. Rose. She arrived in the form of a ghostly young girl, not looking at Sora as he sat cordially next to her against the wall. She wasn't drawing.

She was _always _drawing.

"I got Riku's number the other day…" she uttered weakly. Sora immediately became concerned at the sound of her broken voice. He tried to catch a glimpse of her face, but her unusually unkempt hair hid it.

"Yeah…?" Sora asked, trying to sound as sympathetic as possible.

"I called him last night," She continued, "And you know…we've become friends and stuff so I thought it would be nice to start up some small talk over the phone, you know? I was bored and…I don't know, wanted to know more about you…"

Sora caught the obvious connotation instantly – she was saying that she liked him again. She wasn't even hiding it this time.

"So I asked, kind of stupidly, you know…'Hey Riku, who do you think would be the best girlfriend for Sora?'"

_Oh, God_…Sora instantly thought, _Oh, __**God**__…_

"You know what he said, Sora?"

Her voice was like a frozen knife, all laced with phlegm and cold and piercing. She sniffed weakly as she flipped her hair out of her eyes and looked directly at the silent brunette. He swallowed at the sight of her reddened eyes, her cheeks doused with salty tears.

Sora was only silent.

"He said, 'Namine, I hate to bring it to you, but Sora and I are kinda going out,'" she laughed, causing Sora to cringe, "So I went, 'Oh, Riku…that's a funny joke'…but he said he wasn't kidding!"

Sora shook his head in disbelief.

"Is it true? Are you two going out?"

The brunette gulped, closing his eyes and finally saying, "Yeah…yeah, it's true. Just…don't tell anyone, okay? If his mom finds out, I'm dead meat."

"Ah…" Namine whispered, nodding her head understandably, wiping her eyes, "It's…it's okay. I didn't ask because I liked you or anything really, I just asked out of curiosity. It's just…" she inhaled deeply, looking up before saying, "I cried for both of you last night…I love both of you guys."

Sora cocked his head, studying the side of Namine's face. "Namine…why've you cried for us? We're happy together – there's nothing wrong with our --"

"_What does your mom think_?" she lashed out almost viciously, "Doesn't she disapprove of this? Doesn't she know that the Lord doesn't allow homosexuals into his kingdom?"

Oh….no…Sora thought hopelessly. So that was the issue – it wasn't really that she liked him that way – it was that she thought they were all going to Hell…

"Namine, I…" Sora uttered, his voice cracking, "I'm _happy_. Riku is happy too! I don't think I've ever been this happy in my _life_."

"That's…what scares me, Sora…" Namine whimpered, "Satan is powerful that way…you have to fight it…you can change, Sora, you can change."

"I don't _want _to change, Namine."

"_Why not_?"

Sora jumped. Namine had never sounded so fierce and angry to him ever before. Her face denoted a sense of pure malice, but it slowly softened once she noticed Sora's fear…and she suddenly broke into a fit of sobs. Sora's hand met the small of her back comfortingly.

"I just…I just don't want you to…" she sniffed, "I want to see you guys again…when I die. I want to see you, Riku, Roxas, _and _Axel. I love you all like brothers…none of you should deserve to go to Hell…that's why you need to _stop_…"

Sora shook his head as he rubbed her back. He felt sorry for her. It really wasn't her fault she felt that way. Her intentions were pure and good, but only based on what she believed. Sora wasn't really a believer in the Bible that much, but he _did_ believe there was a God. There _had_ to be a God considering he was still alive after all he'd been through with Leon…

"Namine, I won't stop loving Riku, and I'll still be friends with you…" he began solemnly, "But…I won't break up with him just for your sake."

Namine sat there, hugging her knees as she processed these words.

"I don't want you to break up just for my sake…" she breathed airily, "but for your both of your sakes as well."

She somberly got up, her legs shaky under her khaki skirt. She lifted up her floral-print backpack and headed toward the pavilion. Silent.


	13. Christmas Break

_Kk guys, lemme clear a few things up when tf comes to this lurvly fic and it's "reality". The things I based most off of real life are the characters – all the named ones, that is. The largest events in this (so far) such as the first kiss scene, mouthrape, Mr. Rose almostrape, and Namine are only loosely based off real life. When it comes to the real first kiss scene, well…it happened a more than ayear after "Sora" and "Riku met". Heck, they didn't even start dating until over a year after they met. However, the thing about Riku almost kissing Sora and getting up and saying "just kidding"…that happened in a way, but there was no pinning involved. Mouthrape…neh, that didn't happen. All those things were just told to "Sora" and well it FELT like being mouthraped knowing the one you loved the most was treated that way. AND YES "Riku" is treated that way…or was. Or…kinda is still. Long story. "Mr. Rose" grabbed "Axel" in the upper thigh in the middle of class (ironically while "Riku" was sitting right next to him) and DID say that "there was something in his pants" and "Axel" did say "yeah don't touch it" and that's about it…and that whole scene with "Namine" pretty much happened over the Internet, not school. Quite recently actually. _

_Anyway, THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME. _

_Chapter 13: Christmas Break_

"Riku…where are we?"

Sora had asked the question once before, and he was answered with the same kind of sarcasm he was already expecting.

"My house, Sora…upstairs. It'll be Christmas on Saturday."

Sora looked up at the silverette, the silverette's head looking down to him in turn. His thin chin rested warmly on the brunette's forehead.

"You know what I mean."

Riku sighed, shaking his head. "Having troubles with the marriage already, are we? Want a divorce this soon?"

Sora grumbled hugging Riku's knee closer to him. "I'm serious, Riku. I don't have a problem with going out with you at all…I…love you…" he uttered this with difficulty, feeling his heart lighten just a bit, "It's just that…well, our relationship seems to be upsetting everyone."

"You mean Namine?"

Sora blinked, thinking it over. Riku had apparently told several people at his school that he and Sora were going out, informing Sora that no one really cared enough to go off and tell Yuna about it. Yuna was apparently blind and deaf to everything that she didn't want to see or hear, so she would never catch on. She was that close-minded.

But Namine…she was the only one really upset.

"Yeah…but Namine's the only friend I've made at Twilight really…other than you, that is. I just feel like I've done something wrong to make her that—"

"You've done nothing wrong, So," Riku proclaimed, fiddling with a spike at the back of his lover's head, "Namine was just a little upset. She won't bug you too much about it. In fact, I invited her over. She said she's coming."

"You…" Sora began to mimic, "invited her over?"

"Yeah," Riku nodded, "She'll be over around three or so."

Just then, Roxas came up the stairs, a black wire slithering out of each of his ears. He glanced over at Riku, looked away, then did a double take.

"Why're you wearing pink?" the blonde asked.

Riku looked down at the pink, _almost_ red, shirt, looking back up to his brother. "Only _real_ men wear pink."

Sora laughed, causing Riku to smile. Roxas rolled his eyes, sauntering over to the gigantic entertainment system mostly taken up by the floor-to-ceiling flat screen. He messed with the petite, snowy-white Wii before he asked, "Who's coming over again?"

"Namine, Sora's friend Yuffie, Zexion and Demyx said they'd come over tomorrow, annnddd…" Roxas's eyes widened with hungry hope, "Axel."

Roxas whooped a little too loud, clamping a hand over his mouth after he did so. Regaining his composure, he asked, "So, uh…how's he getting here without Yuna finding out?"

At that, the familiar song of "Dragostea Din Tei" broke out from the arm of Sora and Riku's chair, Riku jumping and picking up the phone and asking into the receiver, "Hello?"

Sora looked at him questioningly as his face contorted into one of pure confusion. "_What_?" he asked rather severely, rolling his eyes before saying, "Okay, he'll be right down."

Blue eyes scrutinized him as he flipped his phone closed.

"He's downstairs, Ro," Riku explained, "In your room. He went through the window."

Roxas cheered a happy squeal, unable to contain his excitement as he pranced down the stairs and out of sight. Sora's eyes followed the noise of his footsteps as he ran down the stairs, pausing for a moment once the noise waned.

"Won't Yuna find out _eventually_?" Sora asked Riku, "I mean, how long do you think _Axel _can stay quiet?"

Riku laughed through his nose. "I think the question is 'how long do you think _Roxas_ can stay quiet.'"

The brunette's pupils shrunk. "You don't mean--? But in your _house_—?"

"Trust me, Sora, our parents are blind," Riku interrupted, "More like they're in denial. Kinda like Namine was. They only believe in the things that are within their comfort zone – anything outside of it is a lie. Even if Axel and Roxas stood in front of them hand-in-hand and declared that they were totally gay for each other, they _still_ wouldn't believe them."

Sora let the words sink in, processing them as he stared blankly at the equally blank TV screen. "So what if…_we _told them about _us_?"

"Oh, they'd deny it," Riku told him, scratching the side of his face as he spoke, "They'd say I was confused, demon-possessed, whatever – everything except in love with you. That would be an impossibility."

"So…why don't we just tell them?'

Riku surveyed the younger boy with disbelieving eyes before laughing weakly, nervously. "Are you kidding? They'd hire a priest to do an exorcism on me and beat me with the Bible every night," he sighed, holding his head in his hand, "Not to mention therapy. Heh, Yuna gave me therapy when she found a book I had where there were two guys holding hands. That was _it_."

"Jeez…" Sora aired, debating on whether or not to give Riku a sympathetic peck under the chin when his mother and father were only a floor below them.

"So how's Yuffie getting here?" Riku asked, impatient when it came to changing the subject.

"Uhm…Leon's picking her up from the airport and taking her here.""

"Ah…he doesn't mind?"

"No. Yuffie's pretty much like a little sister to him."

Riku nodded understandably, only half there. Sora lay back, resting his head on the silverette's lean shoulder.

How Riku convinced Yuna to let him stay over, Sora had no idea. The woman had been a bit huffy about the whole incident with Riku staying over at Leon's house that one night, but even people like her that seemed to be out for everyone's blood all the time loosened up. In fact, Sora, learned, even Yuna had her good qualities.

Sora's favorite thing about her was that she was lazy. She didn't go upstairs to check on the two of them _once_ while Riku straddled him in the chair, pushing his tongue into the smaller boy's mouth. Sora emitted a muffled squeak in protest, but melted into it, sharing his own tongue. He quickly broke from the kiss at the sound of a doorbell, Riku starting as well, looking away silently and lifting from the chair as if nothing ever happened.

Only a few small grunts and obvious sounds of nearly tripping ("whoa!") revealed to Sora instantly the clumsiness of his best friend Yuffie. He jumped up from his seat as soon as he caught sight of her face peering around the corner. He pushed out his arms and wrapped them around her, nearly toppling her down the stairs along with her two bags of luggage.

"Yuffiiiiieeee…" he hummed into her small shoulder. She laughed lightly, holding the back of the taller brunette's head.

"Good to see you too, So."

Sora was surprised at first at how well Riku and Yuffie got along. He was afraid they wouldn't get along at all, Riku having a history of getting jealous of Namine and being a jerk to…well, everyone, and Yuffie being a hyper ball of energy. Then again, Sora found he himself a carrier of a significant amount of energy and he was going _out _with Riku. He also recalled the naming of Yuffie's boyfriend, Vincent. His ability to be a stoic figure far out-ranked Riku's. Opposites really did attract.

By the time Namine was softly padding up the stairs, Yuffie had found the Wii with the help of Riku. Rather than playing the actual game, she amused herself with moving the cursor back and forth on the screen. No one knew the smaller was up there with them until she laughed sweetly at Yuffie's "wheeeeee!"

"Nami!" Sora cheered, giving the angel a clamping hug that nearly snapped her tiny body in two. "How're you?"

"I'm fine…" she breathed.

Sora wouldn't have described her as "fine". She looked like she just checked out of the hospital. She was pale and thinner than usual, small bags pulling under her eyes and thin, hardly noticeable red veins trailing along the whites of her eyeballs. Sora would've asked her what was wrong, but he didn't want her exploding on him again.

"Welcome," Riku said, seemingly detached as he watched Yuffie try and figure out which button was which on the bone-colored remote. One of his legs was crossed across the other as he reached into his bag of BBQ chips and munched on them. Sora smiled at him before introducing Namine to Yuffie. Yuffie greeted her with an exuberant "hiiii!" then continued pressing buttons experimentally.

When the introduction was decidedly over with, Sora took the pleasure of walking over to Riku. He thought about sitting on his lap, but remembered Namine was there. Would she really appreciate it if he obviously made no effort to understand her feelings about him and Riku?

He had no say in the matter anyway. He gasped as Riku's fingers snuck their way onto his waist and brought him down to his lap. Namine tore her eyes from the screen to observe the two. She simply rolled her eyes – almost playfully – and quickly reglued her attention back to Yuffie's "game."

Maybe things weren't so bad after all?

At one point that night, Riku was called downstairs by Yuna. He reemerged up the stairs a few moments later, vigorously rubbing his lips as he fled to the bathroom. As the water ran, Sora found himself the only one who noticed his recent flustered appearance. However, five minutes after he came out of the bathroom, Roxas came up the stairs too, Axel the Fox in tow.

"How'd _you _get up here?" Sora asked in disbelief, everyone shushing him in turn.

"Yuna and Tidus went to bed," Roxas whispered, "And can we play Super Smash Brothers now?"

"Sure," Riku said, picking up his can of fruit soda, "but you're gonna have to detach Yuffie from the Wii."

Before Roxas could ask who the hell she was, Yuffie proclaimed, "Nah, I'm done," and surrendered the remote to the ground rather forcefully in mock anger.

As Roxas, Axel, and Riku all fought against each other in a classic game of Super Smash Brothers, Namine and Yuffie snuck their way to the right and left of Sora, Yuffie opening the conversation with the worst possible line she could…as always.

"You and Riku are so cute together, Sora!" she whispered with a smile, "Don't you think so, Nami?"

Sora opened his mouth to say something to Yuffie, but Namine was _right there_, so he couldn't really do anything. The small girl sighed slightly, looking away and barely exuding, "If Sora was a girl…"

"Huh?" Yuffie asked, Sora continuing to stutter silently, "Whaddya mean? Are you a homophobe or something? Then why're you even Sora's friend?"

"_Yuffie_."

Sora finally mustered to speak his best friend's name once he noticed the tears clouding Namine's eyes. Sora couldn't stand to see her eyes get all puffy again. He had to stop it.

"Hey, you guys wanna play?"

The three of them looked up at Riku offering a chunky Nintendo 64 controller. Namine made a quick attempt to wipe her eyes and answered, "Yes, but…I've never played before…"

"It's easy," Sora laughed, more than happy to gear the topic of conversation to something totally different, "You'll figure it out. Just press a bunch of buttons."

Yuffie nodded in agreement as she hitched up a carrot-colored controller and commenced in choosing her character as Sora followed suit, taking Riku's metallic controller with a slight nod of thank you.

The game they played consisted of the small, yellow (by the player's choice) Kirby, a Link clad in his usual seemingly cotton-filled hat but with blue garments, and, to everyone's mirth, a Jigglypuff wearing a blue bow. Axel, Roxas, and Riku complained all throughout the fight about this player's choice until Riku noticed the annoyingly pink ball of squeaks had eight lives while Kirby was going on three and Link had five. He pointed this out and Axel and Roxas cried their exclamations of bafflement.

Once Kirby was out, Namine shrunk away, shrugging nonchalantly and admitting that she tried. Sora and Yuffie were left, dishing out, bickering, and laughing as Link was assaulted with a laser-wielding puffball. Roxas couldn't take it anymore and snuck over to the console and followed the cords to the controllers with his eyes. He looked at Sora as he sipped his orange soda.

"You're Jigglypuff aren't you?" he asked.

Sora grumbled, not taking his eyes from the screen. "_No_."

"Yeaaaahhhhh you are. Player one is Jigglypuff and Player One is you, therefore you're Jigglypuff."

Axel and Riku laughed at this new discovery and Sora blushed, continuing to mash the buttons angrily, hurling Link into the air.

"Playing God there, Sora?" Riku laughed. Sora merely stared as Link's character, with his final life, catapulted into the sky and disintegrated into a shining star. He cackled maniacally as the winning screen for Jigglypuff came up.

"Was that a 'yes'?" the silverette laughed.

Sora couldn't remember the last time he had so much fun. Riku was there, his best friend was there, and then Namine was even there. Yuffie quickly caught on to the fact that talking about any gay relationships was off limits, so Namine became comfortable once again, laughing and smiling at Axel's jokes all over again. Sora couldn't help but feel his stomach sink when Axel would sneak a kiss onto Roxas's forehead or cheek and her laugher would instantly turn to scolding silence.

Regardless, the party was fun and lasting. When three o'clock rolled around, Roxas showed obvious signs of fatigue, everyone yawning to follow suit. Axel took him downstairs as the small blonde rubbed his eyes, bidding the rest of the gang "good night" before his red spikes disappeared down the stairs.

Namine was curled up in a chair like a kitten, fast asleep. Sora smiled, nuzzling Riku's chest before the silverette wrapped his arms around him and gave him a slight squeeze before the brunette nodded off to sleep.

"Rikuuuuu…_hey_, Riku!"

Sora was awake, his head resting on the arm of the chair, his legs dangling over the opposite edge, but his eyes remained closed. Riku laughed at his position before addressing Axel in a harsh whisper, "_What_?"

"Where the fuck's your washer?"

Riku sat upright the best be could, looking toward the window. The sun was up – Sora could feel it against his eyelids. He looked back to Axel, urgently asking, "What time is it?"

"I dunno, nine?"

"You idiot!" Riku growled, "Tidus will be getting up any second! How're you gonna get out of here without them noticing?"

"I'll just sneak out the window?"

"On the _second floor_?"

"I'll do it anyway?"

"And fall to your _death_?"

Their whispers quickly turned into normal-toned voices and Sora showed the tension he felt on his "sleeping" face. Riku noticed, pushing the back of his hand gently across his cheek reassuringly, momentarily breaking the rigidity.

"Just hide the sheets behind the couch, Axel. Roxas can wash them later when you're gone and he's…mobile."

Axel sniggered, "That'll be a while," and Sora shifted slightly so he could hear where his footsteps were heading. There was a _thump _of fabric behind the couchand Axel headed toward the window, opening it and sending a cold breeze through the room. Sora discontinued his feign of sleep, starting and hugging himself. Axel smirked.

"See ya," he uttered, disconnecting two fingers from his forehead before he slipped out the window. Sora gasped before he heard two feet find the grassy ground, walking off as it carried an unfazed Axel.

Riku sighed, shaking his head as he held it. Sora looked up to him, spinning around leisurely so he could kiss him on the cheek reassuringly. The older teen smirked and gave the brunette a swift peck on the lips in return.

"Didn't you say Demyx was coming over today?" Sora asked, his hands firmly planted on Riku's thighs.

"Yeah…I invited Zexion, so no doubt Demyx will tag along."

Zexion. Sora didn't really know him that well, but he didn't really seem like the type of person that wanted to be known. Demyx often highlighted the little emo by bugging him during classes, poking him, prodding him, calling his name and sticking his tongue out at him. The slate-haired boy would merely grumble and swipe at the mulleted boy's appendages, continuing to read his book.

From what Sora knew of the two of them, Demyx acted a lot like him on an excessive amount of sugar and Zexion acted like Riku on an excessive amount of books, logic, and emo.

Namine and Yuffie left early that morning, Leon surprisingly happy to pick her up and take her to her parents' hotel. Sora waved his goodbye to the two girls.

The couple of Sora and Riku was only aware of Zexion and Demyx's arrival when Yuna cried for Riku to "come and greet them like a good friend should." _Like she knows anything about being a good friend…_Sora thought malevolently to himself as Riku rolled his eyes and headed down the stairs to lead the two up the stairs.

Zexion's behavior surprised Sora. He hardly ever saw his nose out of a book at school, but he actually participated in some of the active games Demyx started. Demyx grinned happily as they played tennis on the Wii and Zexion even threw the dirty blonde boy a few playful shoves with a rare smirk.

"Are you two going out?" Sora eventually managed to ask the two. Zexion's blush was evident and amazing, even if his hair was covering half of it. Demyx giggled and threw an arm around the little emo's shoulders, hardly pecking his reddened cheek.

"We're thinking about it," he chuckled, Zexion turning even redder.

Demyx brought over his favorite game, Rockband, which the four of them enjoyed playing. Demyx was a natural at the guitar while Zexion took up the bass quite well. Riku, Sora learned in surprise, had a very beautiful voice, which distracted the brunette as he missed a few hits of the drum. He wasn't too good at anything in Rockband, but he still enjoyed himself.

He found himself playing the bass at one point with Riku sitting in the same chair as him, microphone at mouth. The four of them were so concentrated on the virtual conveyor belts of notes that no one seemed to notice Tidus had come up the stairs until he whooped and threw his arms in the air. Riku jumped as his father's eyes darted toward him, causing said father's arms to fall unexpectedly and for his excited smile to wane. Without a word, he turned his back to the four teenagers and headed back downstairs.

Sora totally forgot that he had to strum. In no time, Riku was pausing the game and asking downstairs, "Yes Ma'am?"

"Zexion and Demyx need to go home!" Yuna called up stairs, sounding angry. "We need to call a family meeting. Some _thing_s have been going on."

Zexion and Demyx exchanged worried looks as they abandoned their guitar and drumsticks, following a solemn Riku to the stairs. Roxas appeared, looking grave and wildly looking around. He caught sight of Sora and jumped, running over to him and grasping his shoulders.

"Go in the bathroom, Sora," he whispered importantly, "Go in the bathroom and lock the door. If anyone knocks and it's not me or Riku, just say you're using the bathroom."

"Why?" Sora asked, confused, "What's going--?"

"_Just go in the bathroom_, Sora, we'll explain later."

The brunette found that his heart was hammering in his chest as the blonde watched him head into the bathroom, closing the door carefully behind him and locking it.

_Oh God…_Sora moaned in his thoughts, _Please don't tell me they've found out…__**please**__…_

He stood in front of the toilet, holding the hem of his pants, anticipating for someone to unlock the door with no knock or turn of the doorknob or anything. He assumed he would act like he just finished buttoning his pants, jump, and exclaim that he was using the restroom. That wouldn't get him off the hook of dating Riku though…

Ten minutes went by, and a soft knock came to the door. Sora shook his head and unlocked it, meeting Riku's teal eyes.

"False alarm," he told him, sounding out of breath, "She was just lying so she could get Zexion and Demyx out of here…they don't know yet…"

Sora lunged toward the silverette, holding his chest in his arms firmly and burying his face in it. Riku held the brunette's head, caressing it softly.


	14. Flaming Eyes

A/N: Ohhhh my…weeell, I'd tell you guys what's been going on with life, but you'll just have to find out in the sequel to this. And I know I'm asking pretty early, but do you guys even want a sequel? Oh, and don't kill me at the end of this. Please. It never happened in real life but it might as well have.

……………………………

_Chapter 14__: Flaming Eyes_

Ironically enough, Riku spent the second half of his winter break at Destiny Islands, Sora's home ground. Sora moaned in his homesick tone when Riku delivered this message over the phone. He didn't forget to mention that Yuna decided to leave the day before they were getting on the plane. What a planner.

The two of them decided that the reason Yuna made Demyx and Zexion leave the day before was just because she was sick of having company over. Sora didn't see how it could bother her – she spent the entire two days downstairs in her pajamas, sitting on an exercise ball in front of her computer. And she called _Riku _lazy. Please, what a hypocrite. Riku suggested that she made the two leave just because she could – just so she could implement her seemingly endless powers. That seemed more accurate.

While vacationing on the islands, Riku called Sora every night. Sora usually wasn't usually a big talker on the phone, but Riku had him talking for hours. One time they were up until eight in the morning, just talking about anything and everything. Sometimes they would stop talking for almost ten minutes, just listening to the other's breathing, wondering what they were thinking about.

Sora was careful about receiving calls after nine so the minutes were free. His mother still got the phone bill and was miraculously still paying it. Sora figured she was probably too wasted to know what she was even paying for -- probably thought it was a really cheap electric bill.

But when the last day of break rolled around, the house phone started ringing.

Leon spent his time yelling worried, strangled messages to the person on the other end, choking as he was interrupted each time. Sora listened from his room, only hearing a voice from Leon but no words. When he opened the door in order to hear properly, Leon had already hung up forcefully.

"That was Mom," he managed to croak after a long silence, "She said she's coming over to take your phone."

"She…_what_?" Sora stuttered in disbelief, "But…I've been calling after nine every night, she—"

"—thinks it's girly as fuck to talk on the phone every night, especially for eight hours."

There was a second silence where Leon actually met Sora's eyes and quickly shifted them away. "Look, I'm not blaming you. She was just sober enough to know what she was reading but drunk enough to…" he groaned in aggravation, slamming his fist down on the counter, "_Who_ checks their kid's phone bill to see how long they've talked for?"

Sora shrugged, looking down. He didn't even want to think about it if she knew _who _he was talking to.

"You're not mad at me…" the small boy asked, "are you, Leon?"

"Of course I'm not mad at you, Sora." His brother nearly laughed, "You can talk as long as you want to talk after nine – it's free!" He sighed, pulling his hand through his long hair like he usually did while under stress. "She's just BSing us. She doesn't know where we live…"

"Then how'd she get our number?"

Leon shook his head and growled, "I don't know, I don't want to think about it. Just keep an eye out, Sora…just in case."

The conversation dwindled into a deadly silence. Sora could hear his breathing, shallow and slow, as Leon shook his head and sighed again, retreating to his room.

Remembering just how frightening his mother was just about him being born brought tears into his eyes. The fact that she was onto him when it came to Riku and him – calling it "girly " to simply talk on the phone with _anyone _for eight hours – scared him. No, it more than scared him…it terrified him to the point where he ran into his room at that moment so Leon wouldn't hear his pathetic sobs.

Their mother hated homosexuality. Absolutely _hated_ it. Leon told Sora when he was younger that she had a boyfriend who stayed with her, married her, had Leon with her, then ran away with a man that he had truly been with the entire time. Sora could understand her pain, but ever since then she'd been taking out her anger on everyone else. When the word "gay" was even mentioned to her, she ranted and raved the rest of the day. Sora didn't want to think about what would happen to him if she fount out that her own son was gay…but he did anyway. His mind was masochistic that way.

And he hated it.

And Riku…he was a mind reader as always. Sora couldn't count the number of times his voice asked in mid-sentence "what's wrong?" Sora told him "nothing", but he could hear the lie detector on the other line prove him an obvious liar with a simple "hm" or slightly sarcastic "ahh".

Riku told Sora that as a souvenir, he got a paupu fruit. The small brunette's brain gladly turned from the subject of his mother, remembering the myths of the fruit. It was said that whomever you shared it with would stay with you forever. Of course, it was only a myth, but Sora would appreciate it if Riku shared it with him anyway, or at least _showed_ him the star-shaped fruit. The plant was rather expensive, so Sora didn't even believe Riku had it at first.

Riku immediately noticed the wanting in Sora's voice and teased, "Hmmm, I don't really know who I should share it with…"

"Rikuuu--!"

"I was thinking maybe Namine. She's so cute and innocent."

Sora pouted, huffing so he would sound playfully angry. "Stop being so mean, Riku! You probably don't even _have _a paupu fruit, do you?"

Riku chuckled to himself. "Yeah I do. I'll bring it tomorrow."

"I'll steal it."

"I'll hide it in my locker all day."

"Rikuuuu!"

"Soraaaa?"

There was a comical silence where Sora sulked grumpily. He could just see Riku holding back fits of mirth.

"I gotta go, Sky. See you tomorrow."

Sora nodded. "I-I'll see you tomorrow."

"Aishiteru."

The line went dead, Sora listening to his blood beating in his own ear. "_Aish-teh-roo_?" How'd you even spell that? Better yet, what did it _mean_?

As if he could hear Sora's loud thoughts, Riku sent Sora a text.

_Aishiteru, Sky._

"Must be Japanese…" Sora mumbled to himself. He knew that his own name was Japanese for "sky", which is why Riku had insisted on calling him the simple nickname. Riku's name meant "land", but Sora wasn't going to go around calling _anyone_ "land". Yeah, that sounded sooo romantic…so Sora just proceeded in calling him 'Ku like everyone else close to Riku called him.

He made a mental note to himself to look up the word "aishiteru" the next time he got his hands on a computer…or to just ask Riku himself. Until then, he would merely wonder.

And then he started worrying about his mother again, having trouble getting to sleep.

……………………

After awakening from a dream that consisted of a lot of beer bottles, all broken, raining from the sky and Riku on the other side of the road, waving as if nothing was happening, Sora felt pretty shaken. His nerves got especially racked when he went to take a shower and the faucet only emitted a few drops. He panicked that Leon didn't pay the water bill, but his brother said the pipes were frozen. Wonderful. He had to go to school with parched mouth and throat and greasy hair. He whimpered lamely when his spikes wouldn't gel up correctly and Leon was about to head out the door.

His misshapen appearance wasn't apparent to anyone but girls. Sora never understood how girls always had such an eye for looks. They were always worried with how they looked and yet they wanted a boyfriend that liked them for their _personality_. Good job, girls, good job.

Spanish – or better yet, study hall – was interesting. Interesting in the fact that it wasn't a study hall at all really and no one really studied or kept quiet. Tidus didn't seem to care. Sora noticed that he was actually pretty cool when not under the influence of Yuna.

"Class" hadn't even started when Sora began telling Namine about Riku's paupu fruit. The girl was rather interested, explaining she was from an island herself so she knew all about exotic fruits. In the middle of her not-so-fascinating speech, she pointed out the window at a Riku rushing hastily by.

Sora blinked, the whole class staring in silence as he opened the door, locking eyes with the blue-eyed brunette fiercely as he stood in the doorway. He smirked before waving a bright yellow star in the open, dashing off before he could hear Namine's abnormally raucous laughter fused with Sora's moan of disapproval and his head colliding with the table in front of him.

During math, Sora didn't pay attention. Well, he usually didn't anyway, but it was worse this time. Plus, he knew that his attempt to hide his anxiety had failed when --

"What's wrong, Sora?" Riku asked quietly under Miss Gainsborough's speech of the foreign language of Math. "I mean for God's sake, you're not even paying attention to _me_."

Sora laughed sarcastically at Riku's feign of conceit. "I'm fine."

Riku rested his cheek on his hand, looking at Sora through squinted teals. "Tell me at lunch."

In mid-nod, Miss Gainsborough asked Sora if he had something to share with the class. The brunette looked up at her before shaking his head. Her stern look faded as she cocked her head and asked sympathetically, "What's wrong?"

Sora shook his head after hearing that question for the umpteenth time and mumbled something that sounded like "personal". The teacher gave the boy one last worried glance before shrugging it off and getting back to business. Sora half-wished that he would've spilled out the whole story, screaming out his pain at the top of his lungs, emphasizing every agonizing aspect to the last syllable.

No. Not yet, not here.

When they were released, Sora was surprised to find himself waiting on Riku in front of his locker. The silverette produced the luscious-looking fruit with its individual green leaf. Sora's heart barely lifted as Riku showcased it, and it must've shown as he threw the fruit back into the locker, closing it in turn. A single hand dared to claim Sora's chin, tilting his head up only slightly, the connected older boy looking deeply concerned yet somehow impatient.

"What's going on, Sora."

It wasn't a question. The brunette turned his face away, embarrassed, but Riku straightened it one-handedly.

"Should we go somewhere private?"

That _was_ a question. Sora nodded, pointing half-heartedly toward the bathroom. Riku looked, nodding as well, saying something along the lines of, "'Kay, let's go."

He put an arm around Sora's shoulders, quickening his pace to the bathroom as the brunette's eyes began to shine with sorrow. When the heavy door closed behind them and they had escaped from the outside cold, Riku's hands traveled down to Sora's, holding them gently and making soft circles in them with his thumbs as Sora hiccupped, looking down.

"Tell me what's wrong, Sky."

So Sora did after several trembling breaths. He spilled the entire story of his mother once again, how she hated the homosexual way of life and why, how she always found a way to get what she wanted no matter what it was or how drunk she got.

"I-I'm scared, Riku…" Sora sobbed quietly into his lover's shoulder, "I'm scared…I don't want her to find us…she'll hurt me…she'll hurt _you_…"

The brunette whimpered delicately as he waited for the usual answer he got from Leon at times like this – "_It's gonna be okay_." But he didn't get it…and in some way, he appreciated Riku's realistic answer.

"Well…" he began, "we'll just have to wait and see what happens, huh?"

Sora lifted his head up wearily, sure his eyes must've been swollen and red from how much he cried. Riku brushed a stray tuft of cinnamon hair behind his ear, bending down to capture his lips, holding them with their warm embrace.

Oh God how he needed that kiss.

Sora immediately wrapped his arms around Riku's neck, pulling the warmth closer to his face. He wanted to become it, to live in it, to _die _in that kiss right then and there when Riku's tongue pushed into his lips, bumping the smaller. Sora proceeded in wriggling his own tongue into Riku's mouth, massaging the maw of the mouth.

Sora didn't know what he was doing. His hands seemed to do all the work without his mind having any control or consent whatsoever. They trailed along the back of Riku's neck, thumbing at his collarbone and holding on tight as he broke from the kiss, dragging his tongue messily down Riku's trachea.

"S-Sora…" Riku moaned, grasping the brunette's wrists in an attempt to push him away, but he refused. He locked his fingers firmly around his shoulders and began sucking at his pounding pulse, flitting his left hand down to his belt loops.

"_Sora_." Riku hissed. He still ignored him, unbuckling the belt and throwing it on the ground with both hands this time, unbuttoning the pants and plunging his hand down his pants when –

"_Sora Hart!_"

The trance was broken instantly, throwing Sora into a sorry state of dread. It wasn't Riku this time. Definitely not. He instantly began shaking as he turned his head in time with Riku, his breaths increasingly heavy.

Yuna Fayth stood there, her claw clenched down on the door's handle, her teeth gritted. Eyes aflame.


	15. End of Messages

A/N: Only one more chapter after this, guys! I'm pretty sure at least…so this is pretty much the climax. Enjoy.

_Chapter 15:__ End of Messages_

Sora instantly felt the adrenaline pulsing into his veins, shaking violently in an instant, as time seemed to slow down for only him. The world was spinning and he could've sworn everything was getting dark as he unwrapped his fingers from Riku's rapidly pulsing member, slowly removing his arm from Riku's pants as he watched Yuna's blazing form cautiously, her heels clacking and echoing throughout the stalls in the bathroom as she drove her way toward Sora, and _only _Sora, digging her perfected, blood red nails into his forearm. He cried out in astonishment more than pain as the claws grated against him, Riku standing in front of him to protect him and throwing Yuna an obvious glare that spoke hollowly, "Back off."

Sora could see his principal straighten up from behind Riku's shoulder, the hint of a smirk playing across her formerly grotesquely scowling face. She balanced her weight on one hip and steadied her eyes on her "son". "I knew he was taking advantage of you from the beginning. If only you would've listened to me earlier to choose your friends wisely. _Sora Hart _has been the worst choice you've ever made."

Sora felt his cold breaths coming in shakily as he trailed his hand stealthily down Riku's arm, grasping his palm weakly. Riku affirmed it without looking back at his little brunette by wrapping his fingers tightly around the small hand. He stonily watched Yuna without batting an eyelid. Yuna regarded him with angry slits.

"I don't know what to do anymore, Riku!" her voice was booming, reverberating off the tiled walls, "I've been a loving, caring mother to you and your parentless state and all you can offer me or anyone else in this world is deceit, and then you're clueless enough to let a delinquent such as Hart bring you down even lower than you already were!"

Sora was quaking, feeling the anger heat up in the pit of his stomach. He wanted to cry, but he wouldn't show any weakness. He only hid his body behind Riku as Riku massaged tender caresses into the back of his hand. Still, he said nothing.

But Sora did.

"Riku…" his voice cracked, "Riku doesn't offer me…deceit…"

The way Yuna's eyes slowly turned on him made Sora muffle a yelp behind his tightened lips as she asked, "Excuse me?"

"R-Riku is my best friend. He…h-he—"

"I love him."

Yuna's hair bounced violently as she tore her attention from Sora and settled it back on Riku, her hands on her hips.

"What?" she asked, sounding utterly disgusted. Sora watched her eyes slowly trail down his body, down his arm.

Riku picked up his head, straight and tall. "_I love him_."

Sora squeaked once his hand was pierced with her nails once again and she tried to pry their hands apart, but Riku shoved her away, lacing his fingers with his lover's simultaneously.

"Besides, _I _was the one who started this relationship, not Sora." Riku's voice was surprisingly calm and collected, but it only made Yuna become even more frustrated.

"He only clings to you because he has no friends! He didn't think he was abnormal until you convinced him that he was!"

"I didn't _'convince' _him anything!" Riku finally exploded, "He was the one liked me fi--!"

"_Don't lie to me!_" Sora yelped at the volume of her voice. "You're sick and confused and need help. You don't know what you're saying!"

"I know _exactly _what I'm saying." Riku spat in a dark voice through gritted teeth. "I'm not a kid anymore, Yuna. I'm sixte—"

"_Honor thy mother and father_ – you are to address me by mother or mom. You're in my care so you must do as I say."

Riku glared fumingly, saying nothing. Sora knew he wanted to say something so bad, but he knew that anything he said wouldn't register in Yuna's mind. She crossed her arms, obviously feeling superior, and extended a pointed finger, motioning for the two of them to follow as she spun around and reopened the door.

There was nothing else to do, so…Sora let himself be led by Riku's arm strung around his shoulders. Yuna huffed in protest at this act but Riku only smirked in defiance.

Sora thought Yuna was scary while they were in the bathroom. That was nothing compared to what happened when the door to her office closed behind them and the three of them were consumed by the smells of freshly printed paper, artificial flowers, and a harsh winter day. Sora shivered under the dead silence before the bomb went off.

"'If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an **abomination'** – Levitus 20:13. What you two are performing between each other is not an act of God. If you _really _love Sora like you love your Father in Heaven, you will break up with him so you can be friends and the both of you will be allowed back into his Kingdom when the time arises!"

Yuna looked down at her adopted son as if waiting for his answer to her spectacular offer. He lightly touched the back of Sora's hand to reassure him that he was there and looked straight ahead, shaking his head no.

Yuna huffed.

"I'm rearranging your classes," she growled to the both of them in a violent response, "And Riku, you'll be having lunch with Mr. Qu from now on. You'll be having Mr. Moon teach you Algebra in third period and you'll have science during fourth period instead. I'll have the hall monitored _all day long _so if either of you even _think_ of speaking to the other or touching the other or _anything_, I'll be sending you two to two separate detentions." She ended the declaration of this horrendous punishment with a glare sliding between the two of them.

"No more computer," she stated promptly to Riku, "No more phone. You two aren't allowed to be in any form of contact whatsoever _ever again_ and that's _**final**_."

Sora didn't realize he was crying until she directed her daggers at him and pointed toward the door saying icily, "You may go, Sora. I'll be calling home about the trouble you've caused."

The trembling brunette sniveled, nodding as he pushed out the door, feeling a mixture of abysmal sorrow and the urge to someday lunge forward and choke Yuna Fayth to death as the winter air blasted into him. Unable to suppress his tears, he stormed to the bathroom, remaining there almost all the way through English, and eventually finding himself over the porcelain bowl, lurching and puking himself inside out.

Axel left early that day, so the withering brunette known as Sora had no ride home. He called Leon from the office, making sideways glances to make sure Yuna didn't overhear him or even come within arms' distance of him. Leon asked him immediately what was wrong but he quickly explained that he would tell him everything in the car.

So he did.

"What a mother fucking _bitch_!" Leon growled, gripping his steering wheel far tighter than he usually did -- his knuckles were swiftly turning white. "Telling you guys to 'just be friends' and yet you're not allowed to communicate whatsoever? Bull shit, that doesn't make any sense at all!"

Sora merely nodded, unable to speak without choking. Leon glanced at him, sensing the black hole forming in the usual ray of sunshine as he stretched a sympathetic arm out and put a hand to his back, rubbing it.

"Don't worry," he said softly, "Don't lose hope yet. Riku's still alive, right? Not all hope is lost. Look at the bright side."

"I'd rather be dead if I was him," the smaller one barely whispered, "Her lectures are way worse than death."

"Riku's tough, So," Leon said with confidence, patting his younger brother on the back, "and he's fucking smart. If he really loves you, he'll find a way to get back in touch with you."

"Yuna said that if he really loves me, he'll break up with me and just be friends."

"Hey, don't listen to anything that whore says, Sora! She's a pathogenic liar and only says what she says to get what she wants."

"Which is Riku…" Sora groaned.

Leon gave his brother a stymied look. "What?"

"She wants Riku. She can't live without him. She makes him kiss her on the lips every night before bed, or else he gets punished."

There was a stunned silence before Leon breathed, "Oh my _God_."

As they came out of the car and thumped the doors closed, Leon stated musingly, "Isn't that child abuse?"

Sora shrugged indifferently, "I dunno. Maybe."

"Maybe…" Leon aired to himself. "Here, take the keys. I have a bunch of stuff to get out of the trunk."

Sora caught the keys and headed up the stairs, panting by the time he made it to the door, situating the key into the door before something familiar rang in his ear. A swift _beep_ and then the electronic voice of his own answering machine.

_You have _**one **_unheard message._

Slowly and quietly, he made a crack in the door so he could attempt to peep through. Who on Earth could be checking their messages?

First unheard message –

Shivering, Sora made to quietly open the door further to satisfy his beating heart and curiosity. Who would be crazy enough to break in and listen to their -- ?

Hello, Mr. Hart. This is Yuna Fayth, principal of Dawn Charter School and Twilight High School. I'm calling on account of your younger brother, Sora Hart.

There was definitely a figure standing next to the counter, listening to this certain message, head tilted…

_He was found today in the boys' bathroom —_

…body slanted…

_-- with another __**boy, **__**my son**__ in particular –_

…they were seriously oblivious if they couldn't hear that obvious screech in the door…

-- vulgarly indulging in exceedingly sexual activity with this "boy" during his lunch period —

The message was drowned out by a feminine gasp from the figure, whic jolted and clamped her hand onto the message machine and chucked it in the direction of Sora. Sora yelped and closed the door swiftly before the machine could meet his head, feeling the large block of plastic slam against the door, jarring his back.

Sora knew those manic, clouded blue eyes anywhere. That was his mother. She wasn't bull shitting them about coming up there. Not at all.

"**Leon**!!" he screamed in fright. She pounded her entire body against the door, lurching Sora's small frame forward each time. The third time she hurled herself against the door, something cracked. Sora was caught off guard and stumbled forward, landing nearly face first into the concrete if his hands hadn't save him. He felt the skin on his palms grind against the gritty ground, peeling back.

"Ungrateful **queer**!" she screeched at him, her voice reverberating through the stairwell and down the hall, slamming something hard into the back of his head. Stars erupted in flocks through his vision. He cried out in pain from each swift hit, struggling to get up before her talons wrapped around the back of his neck, flipped him around, picked him up, and shoved him against the railing of the stairwell. He tried to spout Leon's name a second time, but she clasped down firmly on his windpipe before the whole name could come out.

"Always have been an immoral little **wretch**," the message machine collided with his forehead, his vision spinning, thrashing about for air. "I'll kill you before you **marry** and **betray** another **wife**…"

Sora gasped in anguish once she finally released her hold on his throat, unsheathing a jagged pocketknife in turn and hacking away at his arms as she pulled up the sleeves of his jacket.

Tears, mucus, spit, and sweat ran down Sora's face in coursing rivers, his body convulsing and quaking with agonizing sobs as her clouded blue eyes cut open old wounds far more severe than the ones she was making with her knife at hand.

She was forced away brusquely. Sora could barely feel it. He sunk to his knees, his head bobbing seemingly lifelessly. Leon was calling his name from far away…but his face was right in front of him. His hand was holding his head up. His lips were moving rapidly, but all Sora could hear was a screaming ring.

The world slowly disintegrated. And he was gone.


	16. Aishiteru

A/N: Yeah. It's the final chapter guys.

_Chapter 16:__ Aishiteru_

There was a beeping noise blaring repetitively, swiftly followed by a groan. Sora took in a deep breath and the alarm stopped for a moment, but he continued right back into his shallow breathing, clicking the machine somewhere above his head back into life and its steady, annoying beep. The groan was even clearer this time, even muttering, "Dammit, Sora…" He took another huge breath and continued to breathe that way as he contemplated on whether or not to open his eyes…but his eyelids were heavy and he hadn't even tapped into his other senses yet. He wasn't sure whether that was pain he was feeling through every crackling breath or just a strange sensation filling his lungs. His brain got fuzzy once again and the sound of shuffling feet dulled his thoughts.

A rubbery hand found his arm and some new appendage attached to it. He remained in his dream world until there was an incredible stinging sensation shooting through his arm. He flinched and was forced to shoot his eyes open.

"I-I'm sorry!" the girl squeaked, quickly dropping Sora's arm, "I'm sorta new to this whole nursing thing and – _whoa, _are you awake?"

At any other time, Sora would've laughed and said, "_Yeah_, I'm awake," but in the current state he was in, he wasn't exactly focused. He wasn't really listening to her, but his own thoughts instead. He wanted to catch a glimpse of the girl's face at least, having a go at tilting his head upward but he gritted his teeth, feeling his lips crack. He dropped his head wearily.

He finally realized the pounding in his head.

"Don't try to move your neck or head or anything too much," she stuttered as she hurriedly worked with his arm again, "Let me reset this IV really quick and leave you alone with your brother, 'kay?"

Brother?

Sora tried to ask, "Leon?" but moving his lips was a near to impossible feat. Everything was absolutely dry. His throat, his tongue, every inch of the inside of his mouth was barren and cracking. All he could manage to utter was "Water…"

"Huh?"

"_Water_."

"Oh!" there was the noise of a hand connecting with a forehead, "I'll be right back with a thing of water for you."

She quickly scuttled away and Sora caught a glimpse of her baggy pants adorned with interesting green squiggle patterns.

"That girl doesn't look a day over sixteen."

Sora couldn't help but turn his head at the voice, seeing that Leon was standing over him on his right side, wearing his fur-trimmed traveling coat he only wore in hurries in particular, crossing his arms. Sora opened his mouth to speak but felt his lips crack again.

"Hey, don't waste your energy on talking, So." He laughed, "They say you almost slipped into a coma, but you've only been out for about a day or so."

Sora responded by looking at him with his large sapphires, nodding as if understanding. In truth, he wasn't really listening. The sound of his brother's voice was somehow comforting, even if he wasn't one hundred percent tuned into what he was saying.

"Funny thing, though…her name is Rikku. Two _k_'s instead of one though." He snorted. "_Told _you it was a girl name."

Sora smiled as said Rikku came back and placed the ice-cold water jug into his carefully bandaged hands. She inclined the bed so he could sit up and sip from the straw. _Oh my __**God**__, _he thought to himself as the water softened his throat, cleansing it, replenishing it, _Water's never tasted this good in my __**life**_.

He looked up once he was through sucking the jug nearly dry, finally catching a glimpse of the young nurse's face. She was really cute. Her form was petite and not too curvy at all and her skin was a toasty cream color, her hair pulled back in flecks of golden blonde, her eyes a deep forest green. She smiled and cocked her shoulder.

"Feeling better?"

"Yeah…" Sora nodded, rejoicing inside when he heard his own voice. "Thanks."

"Good. I'll be back later then!" She pranced out of the room, Leon chuckling slightly.

"You remember anything?"

Sora furrowed his brow. He hadn't even thought about anything before he was here in the hospital. He looked at his hands wrapped in bandages and the stitches running down the several trails down his right arm. His head felt swollen.

"…a little?"

"How much?"

Sora tried to think but his mind seemed to screech in protest, just like Yuna had when she found out about –

"Riku!" he cried, bounding up and ignoring the pain in his temples, "Where's Riku?"

Leon shook his head, "Beats me. Haven't heard from him in three days."

"Does he know about me?"

Leon shrugged. "I tried to call him regardless of the whole cut-off-all-communication deal because this is serious, but no one answered. I called your friend Namine though."

"Did you tell her to tell Riku?"

"_Yeah_, I told her to tell Riku. Calm down."

Sora lay back down and sighed, trying to think, remembering everything in the office bit by bit.

"He can't talk to me anymore."

"Yeah."

"Never again."

"…well—"

"Never…I can't talk to him ever again."

"_Sora."_

Sora looked at Leon, a watery film over his eyes.

"Riku'll find a way. I promise."

Sora nodded, looking straight ahead once again. He cocked his head in thought.

"Leon…Where are we?"

Leon made a confused sound. "Are…you okay Sora? We're in the hospital."

"Yeah, I know." Sora said indifferently, "But where _are _we? How did we get here?"

"You mom beat you over the head with a message machine?"

Sora laughed. It hurt to laugh. His head clenched at each laugh and he held it to soothe the pain. "Really, Leon. What's the reason this all happened?"

"…Your mother got drunk because she was depressed her husband ditched her for a guy?"

The small brunette laughed lightly, laying his head back on the bed. He felt like he was going crazy. He didn't know why he always had to know whose fault it was in every mishap in the world. In reality, there were no faults.

"Everything happens for a reason."

Leon nodded his head after a while, in agreement. "You could say that."

………………………..

After about an extra day of CAT scans, MRIs, and several other not-so-fun letters of the alphabet, Sora found himself free to go. His nurses and doctors kept commenting on how miraculously he recovered, but still told him to be wary of his head – no running into sliding glass doors or performing any "usual" activity that included jarring of the brain cavity. His head still felt a bit swollen and he still often felt dizzy, especially when standing, but he figured her was good enough to stay home. Taking his medication he was required to take for the pain, he was on his merry way home.

Leon sighed on the way back as Sora lay back and rested for a second. "We have to go to court tomorrow…"

Sora's eyes snapped open. "Huh? Why?"

"To defend ourselves and land your mom in jail."

"…right."

Sora spent most of that day sleeping, getting up early to head to court. He was afraid the judge would favor the woman, that usually being the case for several, well…cases, but the session was short and easy. Interestingly enough, his mother still had a plentiful amount of alcohol in her blood. The jury pronounced her "guilty" easily. Sora smiled, slightly at peace once he climbed into the car and started heading home again, but…

_But there was still Riku_.

Sora needed Riku more than anything at that present moment. At the very least, he wanted to know if he was okay, whether or not Yuna was keeping to her word or not and so on.

He also wondered about Namine. Was she still so tight-lipped about the relationship between Riku and him? He was hoping that his trouble with his mother would sort of be an eye-opener, but…

He laid his forehead on the cool glass window of the car, feeling the winter chill soothe the aching knot developing in his head. Too much thinking…

………………………..

"Can we go to the library, Leon?"

"…why?"

"I want to look something up on the computer," the small brunette sighed, "and I'm bored. Staying home because your head is bigger than usual is boring."

Leon laughed quietly, hitching up his keys, "Fiiiine. It's my day off anyway so I'm bored too."

Sora could honestly say he never thought he'd find himself in a library, better yet find himself in a library and think it was _cool_. It was so clean and spacious and…and there were no librarians! Self check-out! You scanned the barcode and pressed "print receipt" and you could go, free of the huffy librarian's opinion! And you could rent movies…and video games!

Sora would have to care about that later. At that moment, he was on a mission.

He typed Leon's library number and pin (1,2,3,4,5…Leon lacks a little in the creativity department) into the nearest computer and drummed his fingers, double-clicking on the blue "e" once it appeared. He flipped open his phone and quickly went to the saved messages.

_Aishiteru, Sky._

Quickly, with his left hand on the keyboard and his right hand holding his phone, he typed in the Google search bar "what does aishiteru mean?"

The first link that came up was for the " forum," so he clicked it. The first person's response was just another question, so he looked down to the second response.

_"Aishiteru" = Aishite iru = I love you/Love ya!_

Sora smiled, giggling softly to himself. "Thought so."

He clicked the back button to look for more results. After all, there could've been more than one meaning. He tried the "WikiAnswers" link next.

"Aishiteu" mean "I love you" in Japaness, but it's like "I wanna marry you". If you're more like "I THINK I love you", go with "Daisuki" which is just as good as "I love you", but not as commiting.

Sora could feel himself blushing, his eyes widening. "_I wanna marry you_"? Is that really what Riku meant when he said that? The…_extreme _version of "I love you?"

Sora logged off the computer, pushing himself back and standing up, going off to find Leon in a fog.

…_aishiteru._

…………………_._

"Uhmm…Sora?"

Sora looked up from the couch, sitting himself up. His older brother was holding an assortment of cards in his hands, looking particularly at the one on top. He picked it off the stack and outstretched it toward his younger brother.

"For you."

Sora cocked his head, looking at Leon before taking it and scanning it. His heart made somersaults. He recognized that scrawled, slanted writing anywhere.

"_Riku_…" he whispered, looking for the return address. It wasn't there. He figured.

Carefully, as if the envelope was made of thin glass, he opened it, pulling lined paper carefully from it's interior, unfolding it with quivering hands. The same slanted writing adorned the lines.

_Sky,_

_Namine told me you landed yourself in the hospital because your mom found you. I'm so sorry…I would've done something, but you know…certain limiting factors._

_I hope you aren't in too much pain. If you need anything, you can always email me. I may not have my computer, but Yuna doesn't always keep to her word. You saw how lazy she was. She's not _really _monitoring the halls 24/7. I can go to the computer lab, no skin off my back. Besides, she never said anything about that, right?_

_My email's __. Original, I know._

_Bet you weren't expecting communication this soon, eh? Well I had to talk to you eventually, but you being in the hospital and everything just made me need to speed things up, you know? I went through Hell trying to send this, but they never found it. I was afraid they would, but…nope._

_Having no computer really sucks. I'm sure you can't relate because you don't really have a computer, but…yeah, it sucks. It seems you never really know what you have until it's gone._

_I hope I'm not boring you._

_Well, I hope to see you soon when you get back to school. Get well soon, huh? Maybe this whole thing will be done by spring break. We can go to the spring fair or something. Pray for my survival, 'kay? Aishiteru._

_-Riku_

Sora didn't realize how many times he read it and how watery his eyes were until Leon tapped his head with a small brown package. He looked up and grasped the box, the same writing springing up to him first. Just as carefully as the letter, he opened the box.

He removed a couple of ice packs and pulled up a yellow something in a plastic bag, gasping. It was the paopu fruit. There was a small note attached.

_This way, it doesn't matter what happens -- we'll find each other again somehow._

Sora cocked his head at the message, directing his eyes back toward the brightly colored fruit. Trailing along the star shape, he realized something, feeling tears trickle down his cheeks.

Out of one corner of the star, there was a small bite mark.

Taking up the bagged star in his arms, he ran into his room, unable to suppress his tears of joy.

Plopping himself on his bed, he carefully pulled the fruit out of the bag, stroking it softly. He rotated it a few times in his hand, contemplating which edge he should nibble off of. One particular spot was extra yellow. Slowly, he brought the succulent bit of fruit to his lips, kissed it, and broke off a juicy piece with his teeth.

It tasted better than the water after he woke up in the hospital.

…………………………….

Sunday before school the next day, Sora got the stitches in his arm out. What a fun time that was.

The next day was school, and…Riku was right. Yuna was a dirty liar and never kept to her word. Not that Sora was exactly complaining.

She was telling the truth when it came to Riku's lunch period, science class, and math class being changed though. Still, they could meet in the halls easily. Sora was hesitant at first, but Riku made the first move as always before Sora could make his unwilling escape.

"How's your head?" he asked Sora out of the corner of his mouth as he produced his Algebra book from his locker.

"Headache-y," Sora cooed back, careful not to look at him just in case someone saw them in close quarters.

Riku laughed his usual Riku laugh. "It'll get better, Sky."

Once he stood up, Sora couldn't control himself and lunged toward the silverhead's neck, wrapping his arms around it and weeping softly. Riku connected a hand to his lower back, whispering softly, "Aishiteru…" before kissing him secretly on the neck.

………………………………

The months went on like that, progressively getting better. Namine, to Sora's surprise, actually kept him good company. She even constructed him a small doll that resembled a Mudkip from Pokemon as a belated Get Well Soon present. Sora laughed warmly, keeping it in his backpack.

Once the end of March rolled around, the emails Sora and Riku were sending each other started gearing toward spring break. Riku suggested they go to the spring fair near his neighborhood and Sora agreed. Yuffie and her boyfriend Vincent said that they'd be up for spring break too so that worked out nicely. Riku suggested he let his brother Cloud drive him so Yuna and Tidus wouldn't know Sora was there.

Sooner than expected, spring break was there and Leon was happily driving him to said fair. Sora quickly dialed Riku's phone number – he just recently got his phone privileges back.

"Hey, So."

"Hi, Riku."

"I'll meet you at the flag pole in front of the ticket booth, okay?"

"'Kay."

"Aishiteru."

"Aishiteruuuu."

The line went dead and they pulled up the parking space, Leon letting Sora hop out and run in the direction of the flagpole, the flag waving violently through the spring breeze. He clamped his body around the metal pole and looked around over the heads of people in the crowds in the hot, springtime air. Not a hint of silver to be found.

He flipped his phone out worriedly.

"Hey, Riku?"

"Yeah, So?"

"Where are you?"

There was a small pause when Sora felt a finger tap his right shoulder, so he turned to the right. No one was there. Frustrated, he turned back to the left, sapphire and teal clashing.

"Right here, Sky."

Sora wished he could lose himself in that kiss.


End file.
